When is Halloween 2026? Saturday, 31 October

Trick-or-treat times where you live

Halloween doesn't need a muhurat or a tithi. Trick-or-treating starts when it's dark enough for porch lights to matter. It ends when the little kids run out of steam, which is usually about when their parents do too.

In most US neighbourhoods, prime time is 5:30 to 8:00 PM. It comes in waves. Toddlers and preschoolers go first, often while it's still light, and mostly for the photos. Older kids come out at dusk. Teenagers turn up last, around 8:30 or 9:00, often in about half a costume. By 8:30 most houses with young kids have switched off the porch light and called it a night.

Because US clocks don't go back until the morning after, sunset on Halloween 2026 is later than a lot of people expect. Roughly:

• New York, Boston, Chicago: about 5:40–5:55 PM
• Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle: about 5:55–6:00 PM
• Atlanta, Miami, Houston: about 6:35–6:45 PM

Proper darkness takes another 25 to 30 minutes. So in Atlanta or Houston, expect the first real wave at about 7:00 PM, not at 6.

Check whether your town sets official hours

Plenty of US towns publish official trick-or-treat hours, and some move the night when Halloween lands on a Sunday. That isn't an issue this year. On a Saturday, almost everyone sticks with 31 October. A quick look at your town's website, local news or the neighbourhood Facebook group will settle it. Churches and schools often run trunk-or-treat events in the afternoon or the weekend before, handy if your kids want two rounds.

Outside the US

• UK and Ireland: Earlier, usually about 4:30–7:00 PM. The clocks have already gone back, so it's dark by about 5:30.
• Canada: About the same as the northern US, since most of Canada also turns its clocks back on 1 November. Plan for a coat over the costume.
• Australia and New Zealand: It's spring there. The sun sets at about 7:20 PM in Sydney and nearly 8:00 PM in Melbourne and Auckland, so trick-or-treating is smaller and often happens in daylight.

One rule works in every country: porch light on means knock, porch light off means keep walking.

What day is Halloween each year? (It never moves)

Halloween is 31 October. Every year, in every country. If you're used to Diwali, Navratri or Easter jumping around because they follow the moon, this one is pleasantly boring. It's the eve of All Saints' Day on 1 November, a date the Western church settled on gradually over the 8th and 9th centuries. No lunar maths, no tithi, same as Christmas always being 25 December.

What does change is the day of the week, and that decides what kind of night you get:

• 2025: Friday
• 2026: Saturday
• 2027: Sunday
• 2028: Tuesday (2028 is a leap year, so it skips Monday)
• 2029: Wednesday
• 2030: Thursday
• 2037: Saturday, the next one after this year

Saturday is the one you want. Nobody has school the next morning, parties can run late, and no parent is rushing in at 5:15 to wrestle a four-year-old into a dinosaur suit. After this year you wait 11 years for another.

Where does Halloween come from?

Halloween started about 2,000 years ago as Samhain (say "SOW-in"), a Gaelic festival for the end of the harvest and the start of winter. It sits roughly halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, and that's why the date is where it is. People believed the wall between the living and the dead wore thin that night. They lit bonfires and wore disguises so wandering spirits wouldn't recognise them. That's where the costume habit comes from.

When Christianity reached Ireland and Britain, the church put All Saints' Day, also called All Hallows' Day, on 1 November. The night before became All Hallows' Eve, and people shortened that to "Halloween." In the Middle Ages, poor people and children went door to door "souling," praying for the dead in exchange for soul cakes. In Scotland and Ireland, kids went "guising," doing a song or a joke for food. Asking a kid for a joke before you hand over the candy is a very old move.

The first jack-o'-lanterns, in Ireland, were carved turnips. Anyone who has tried carving a turnip will understand why Irish and Scottish immigrants switched to pumpkins when they reached North America in the 1800s. Their customs mixed with American harvest festivals, and by the 1950s Halloween had turned into the costume-and-candy night we know now.

Halloween costumes 2026: ideas by category

DIY costumes

• Cardboard box costumes. A robot, a Lego brick, a vending machine or an arcade game. One box and a roll of silver duct tape cost about $10, and kids often love these more than anything from a store.
• Scarecrow. A flannel shirt, jeans, a straw hat, raffia poking out of the cuffs, and freckles drawn on with eyeliner.
• Skeleton. Paint white bones on black clothes with fabric paint. Use glow-in-the-dark paint and drivers can see your kid too.
• Thrift-store characters. For about $20 at Goodwill you can pull together '70s disco, '80s aerobics, a tourist or a retired superhero.

Store-bought costumes

Big movies decide what shows up at your door, and 2026 has had plenty: Toy Story 5, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Supergirl and The Mandalorian and Grogu. Expect several of each. Licensed kids' costumes in popular sizes usually sell out by mid-October. If your kid has already announced who they're going as, buy it now, not the week of Halloween.

The classics never leave: witches, vampires, ghosts, pirates, dinosaurs, and the inflatable T-rex suit (about $40–$60 for adults), which is somehow funny every single year. For adult parties, spend the money on a good wig and proper make-up. They do more than an expensive costume does.

Last-minute costumes (under 30 minutes)

• Ghost: An old white sheet with eye holes cut out. Trim the bottom so nobody trips on the stairs.
• Cat: Black clothes, cat ears, and a nose and whiskers drawn on with eyeliner.
• Zombie: Old clothes you don't mind ripping, grey eyeshadow under the eyes and some fake blood.
• "Error 404: Costume Not Found": Write it on a plain T-shirt with a marker. Two minutes of effort, and it still gets a laugh.
• Tourist: A Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, a camera around your neck and a folded map.

Family and group costumes

• The Incredibles: Red tops, black shorts or leggings and a printed logo. Works for a family of any size.
• The Wizard of Oz: Four roles, so it suits a family of four or a group of friends.
• Pac-Man and the ghosts: One yellow circle and a few coloured sheets. Cheap, and everyone gets it from across the street.
• Farmer and animals: Parents are the farmers and the kids pick their animals. Good for toddlers who refuse to keep a mask on.
• Include the dog: Pet costumes cost about $15–$30. Try it on your pet a week early, because some pets will lie down and refuse.

Whatever you pick, check two things before you head out: can the wearer see to the sides, and can drivers see the wearer? Reflective tape or a glow stick sorts out the second one.

Halloween candy and treat prep

How much Halloween candy to buy

On a typical suburban street, start with 60 to 100 pieces, or 2 to 3 per kid you expect. Then buy more. A Saturday Halloween with a late sunset brings out more trick-or-treaters than a school night. If yours is the street known for good candy, or you live next to a busy neighbourhood, get 150 or more.

Think about the two ways this can go wrong. Leftover candy is a problem you can eat. Running out at 7:15 means switching off the porch light and spending the rest of the night watching kids walk past your dark house. Buy the extra bag.

What to buy, and when

• Buy in early to mid-October. The selection is best then. Big variety bags (100–150 pieces) run about $15–$25 at Target or Walmart, and Costco and Sam's Club sell 250+ piece bags for about $25–$35.
• Then hide it. Be honest about who usually eats the Halloween candy before Halloween.
• Chocolate wins, but it melts. If it's still warm where you live at the end of October, mix in candy that doesn't mind the heat, like Skittles, Starburst and Sour Patch Kids.
• Store it somewhere cool. The pantry, not a hot garage.

Allergy-friendly treats

Put a teal pumpkin on your porch. It's the sign of the Teal Pumpkin Project, which the allergy charity FARE has run nationally since 2014. It tells families you have non-food treats, so a kid with food allergies gets one door where they don't have to check anything. Glow sticks, stickers, pencils, bouncy balls and mini Play-Doh all work. A 100-pack of glow stick bracelets costs about $10. Keep the non-food treats in their own bowl so they don't get mixed in with candy.

If you're hosting: easy Halloween party ideas

• Keep the food simple. A "mummy" pizza with strips of mozzarella, a cheese board with a plastic skeleton hand, and a punch bowl with dry ice for the fog. Handle dry ice with gloves and never put it in anyone's cup.
• Plan one activity, not five. A costume contest with silly categories, a pumpkin decorating table, or a horror movie on a projector in the backyard.
• Keep the candy bowl by the door. Trick-or-treaters will keep knocking all through the party, so decide ahead of time who's on door duty.

Heading out yourself?

A bowl with a "Please take 2" sign lasts about as long as it takes the first group of big kids to find it. Leave one out as a backup. Don't expect it to last the night.

Safety basics for trick-or-treating

Stick to lit streets and houses with the porch light on. Carry a flashlight or glow stick, even if the costume lights up. Cross at corners, not between parked cars, where a driver can't see a small witch stepping out. For little kids, a costume they can see out of matters more than how it looks, because masks with narrow eye holes make it easy to trip. Before anyone eats anything, look over the haul and throw away anything unwrapped or resealed.

Halloween 2026 FAQ