This Halloween there is loads to do across the city starting from half term week (Monday 21 – Friday 25 October), then on Saturday 26 October Halloween is taking over the whole city!
‘Spooky Saturday‘ will be a bumper day of fun with all sorts of activities for all ages, including trick or treating, spooky storytelling, a zombie run, ghostly tours and even a chance to meet the Ghostbusters… (yes really!)
Scroll down, if you dare..
SPOOKY SATURDAY! (26 OCTOBER ONLY)
Meet the Ghostbusters!
9am-4pm, Rose Square (outside M&S)
When there’s something strange in the neighbourhood…come and meet the Ghostbusters Team who are hunting down ghosts in their Ecto-mobile!
Fright at the Museum: Prisms and Potions
The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge
10am–5pm | The Beaney, £5 per trail
An interactive Halloween trail for the whole family to enjoy! Blanche The Bland (an evil alchemist) is trying to drain all the colour and fun from The Beaney.
We need your help to save the colour! Can you solve Blanche’s puzzles and games? Each complete puzzle saves a new hue for the museum. Let’s banish the beige!
Cathedral Quarter Spooky Selfie Stop Competition
10-4pm | Burgate, Buttermarket and Sun Street
Participating businesses will show a poster indicating that their Halloween display is a selfie stop. Take a photo, tag the CQ and the business in the photo to enter, and there will be prizes to be won!
Beetlejuice at STORE50
10am-5pm | 50, St Peter’s Street
As part of the Halloween celebrations STORE5O will be offering a pre-loved goody bag with every purchase on 26 October (limited to 100 bags), so why not pop along, have a look at their fabulous Beetlejuice inspired Halloween window and pick up a pre-loved bargain.
Castle Quarter Halloween Treasure Hunt and Costume Competition
10-5pm | St Margaret Street, Castle Street, Beer Cart Lane and Stour Street.
The Halloween Sweet Hunt is back for another year in the Castle Quarter with a treasure hunt for the whole family! There will be hidden trick-or-treat treasures to be found in many of the independent businesses throughout the quarter.
Spooky Songs and Stories with Dragonfly Tales (Under 5s)
11am-12noon | FREE
Fenwick Children’s Department
Join professional storyteller and singer Emily Hanna for some interactive, spooky family fun. Chase away the Boogie Man, do the skeleton dance and listen to spooky songs and stories that will tickle your funny bone but won’t keep you awake at night. Suitable for under 5s.
Limited spaces, booking essential
Book your tickets HERE
Whitefriars Trick or Treat
12noon – 2pm | Whitefriars Square, Free
Come along to Whitefriars for spooky entertainment to keep your little ghouls, ghosts and goblins entertained (and plenty for the Mummies and daddies to do too..).
Trick or Treat in the The King’s Mile
2-4pm | FREE
Palace Street, Orange Street, Northgate and more!
All children of primary-school age or younger are invited to put on their scariest costumes and search for shops in the King’s Mile areas displaying a special Trick or Treat bag. Plenty to keep the mini monsters busy!
Myths and Monsters with Dragonfly Tales (7 years and up)
3-4pm | FREE
The Ghost Room, Tiny Tim’s Tearoom, St Margaret Street
Join professional storyteller and singer Emily Hanna for some interactive, spooky fun. Banish ghosts from a haunted castle, defeat the Goblin rat, and escape an Amazonian witch in this story session for 7 years and up.
VERY limited spaces, booking essential
Book your tickets HERE
Shiverside Zombie Run
4-6pm ages 12+ / 6-9pm suitable ages 16+
Riverside Square, £2 per person
Fancy your chances getting past the flesh-eating monsters lurking in Riverside Square? Join the run…if you dare…
Booking essential with pre-arranged time slots.
Book your tickets HERE
Ghostly Tales (16 years +)
5–7pm | Meet at the Buttermarket / Finish at Café No.35, St Margaret Street
Tickets: £5 per person, including a soft or hot drink
Come and join professional storyteller Emily Hanna for a macabre evening of spells, spirits and seances for those who dare to venture into the dark… (if it rains, the full event will take place at the Haunted Room in Café No.35)
Book your tickets HERE
THROUGHOUT HALF TERM
Fright at the Museum: Prisms and Potions
5 Oct – 3 Nov | £5 Family Halloween Trail
The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge
10am–5pm | The Beaney, £5 per trail
An interactive Halloween trail for the whole family to enjoy! Blanche The Bland (an evil alchemist) is trying to drain all the colour and fun from The Beaney.
We need your help to save the colour! Can you solve Blanche’s puzzles and games? Each complete puzzle saves a new hue for the museum. Let’s banish the beige!
Spooky day on Saturday 26 October – Dress up, get spooky and explore the museum!
Spooky Story Time and Scavenger Hunt
3-5pm | 30 – 31 October | £2-5 per person (pay what you can basis)
The Franciscan Gardens , 60 St Peter Street, Canterbury, CT1 2BE
The Franciscan Gardens in Canterbury is hosting a spooky story time and scavenger hunt, perfect for the whole family! Join us for a costumed evening of fun! Listen to age-appropriate stories, smell what is brewing in the medicinal plant cauldron, participate in a Halloween craft, or search the garden for hidden animals in our scavenger hunt!
ALL ages event. Children MUST be accompanied by an adult at all times. Capacity is limited to 70 people.
Halloween Workshops at Lush
26 Oct – 3 Nov | 11am and 3pm sessions | £15
These workshops are approximately 20-30 minutes long.
What’s Included?
- An exclusive Halloween product making kit
- A Halloween product (worth approximately £7)
- A Halloween fun game activity
- Exclusive sample
These workshops are for everyone! They just ask that children are accompanied by an adult 18+ and are able to complete the product kit making independently.
Halloween Tours: The Dark Side of Canterbury
Wed 30 Oct, 4pm / Thurs 31 Oct, 7pm | £ vary
Meet at Westgate Towers
Explore the darker side of Canterbury’s history with an expert guide on a Halloween Tour. As you step back in time into the dark lanes, you’ll discover a city rife with plague and lice, strange Medieval superstitions and horrid punishments, secret passages, elicit affairs and revenge, not to mention the grisly murders, hangings and hauntings.
You may be surprised at Canterbury’s rather grim and bloody past!
Chilling Tales Riverboat Tours
18 Oct – 2 Nov | 6-8pm starts | £ vary
Meet at Old Weavers bridge
Uncover the dark and gruesome past of our religious capital. From stories of ghostly sightings to gory torture and beheadings, our Chilling Tales tour is a deep dive into the hidden horrors of Canterbury by night… (not suitable for under 10s)
Canterbury Ghost Tours
Tuesday – Saturday | 90 minutes | £ vary
Canterbury City Centre
Join the famous Canterbury Ghost Hunter John Hippisley on a fun packed 90 minute tour of Canterbury’s dark side as he leads you through the streets of Canterbury on a unique tour that is both spooky and historical. You won’t want to miss it!
Haunted River Tour with Canterbury Punting
Every Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday | 5.30pm – 8pm
The Mooring Cafe, Stour Street
During the tour along the River Stour, your chauffeur will tell you a series of local and national ghost stories which will make you chill!
But don’t worry, You get blankets, cushions and hot water bottles. They even have candlelit lanterns.
