Fun-filled family ideas for Halloween

Tired of walking the damp streets, limply knocking on neighbours' doors every Halloween – then why not trying something a little more adventurous this holiday?

The night before All Saints’ Day - when the spirits of the dead roam the land searching, searching – is one of the most fascinating and exciting days of the year; filled with folklore, phantoms and freakouts!

Celebrated around the world - from America to Australia – there is no better place to enjoy the celebrations than right here in the UK.

Here, travelbite.co.uk takes a look at what is on offer across the country.

All Hallows Eve on the high seas

First up, how about an international break for the more adventurous thrill seekers among us? DFDS Seaways is this year offering a Friday Fright Night Cruise – setting sail on the North Sea.

The trip departs Newcastle on October 31st at 17:00 BST – headed for Amsterdam. Aboard the King of Scandinavia, guests will be treated to a fun themed night - with fancy dress, cocktails, Halloween games, live entertainment and prizes for the best costume!

Also included are return transfers or a sightseeing tour of Amsterdam, as well as two nights onboard in an en-suite cabin.

For more information on the Fight Night cruise, or to make a reservation, head over to DFDS Seaways.

Back down in London, the ever popular Jack the Ripper Walk explores the genuine sites which give basis to the myth.

Smaller groups, of around 35-40 people, will be shown Victorian Photographs of the streets and murder sites as they were in 1888, before being invited to walk through the wending back alleys of Whitechapel - sifting through the evidence, and eliminating suspect after fascinating suspect.





The tour meets outside the Toynbee Hall exit of Aldgate East underground station – which is on the District and Hammersmith & City tube lines. It lasts around two hours, and will cost £7.00 per person.

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is also getting involved with a series of hair-raising horror films, spooky music and a glamorous and boozy fancy-dress prize.

On the big night the venue will play host to some spooky screenings – including A Bloody Aria, Theatre of Blood and Japanese cult movie, The Ring – along with a fancy dress club night, which will feature performances from Late Noon Sun - a theatre piece act combining animation, live performance and a 3D sound environment.

More details at the ICA website.

And of course the London Dungeons are open all day to those brave enough to venture below the streets of the city.





Located at London Bridge, the city’s frighteningly fun attraction will this year be transformed into a hellish Halloween wonderland, when the Dungeon’s mix of historical gore and scary fun will be hair-raisingly heightened with spooky uncut tours and nerve racking record breaks - from grisly face painting to screamingly loud competitions and daring scares.

On the big day, the Dungeon will also attempt to break the world record for the most faces painted in an hour – starting at noon!

Up in York one of the country's scariest Halloween walks follows the Ghost Detective as he winds his way along narrow passageways and dark streets to investigating bloodcurdling tales of phantoms, ghosts, apparitions and supernatural stories of the strange and macabre.

The tour is suitable is for adults and families alike, with more details at the Ghost detectives website.

Over at Chessington World of Adventures the popular Halloween Hocus Pocus event takes place from October 18th to November 2nd.

Brand new for 2008 is 'Enigma' - an interactive and unique show performed in the Market Square Scareshack - where guests are asked to help the good witch Enigma stop the Goblins menacing magic

Guests can also ride hair-raising rollercoasters, including Vampire and Dragon’s Fury late into the night, and get up close and personal with the Zoo’s spiders, snakes and glow-in-the-dark scorpions!




Preston Town Hall will getting in on the fun, holding a Halloween Fright Night on All Hallows Eve – but just for those willing enough to step into the murky world beyond their front door! The event is to set pulses racing, with an evening full of spooky entertainment and guided walks around the park.

Guests are warned to expect the unexpected – with details here.

Liverpool will also play host to the Halloween Lantern Carnival, taking place at Sefton Park.

Organised by the Lantern Company, this annual event has become a highlight of the Liverpool calendar, involving 15 partner organisations and over 20 community groups.

This year the Halloween carnival will incorporate a kinetic lantern, water and fire festival - with the theme of 'Phoenix Rising’ and a cast of over 200 performers, pyrotechnicians and musicians in an extraordinary celebratory uprising.

In Edinburgh, Mercat Tours is offering a full Halloween programme.

All tours – which run from Monday October 27th to Saturday November 1st - lead visitors down the narrow closes and wynds off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town – focusing on the ghastly, the gory, the grisly, the gruesome, the ghostly!

On the night itself three tours will be taking place.

Firstly, the Halloween Underground Experience will head into the candle lit Blair Street Vaults, followed by the Gallows to Graveyard tour, which takes in sites of torture, hangings, murders and thefts, and the Ghosts and Guisers tour, shows guests Edinburgh’s horrible history, stinking streets, villainous villains and ghastly ghosts.

Adult tickets cost £8.50, with concessions for children.

Auld Reekie Tours – based half-way between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood palace of the Royal Mile at the Tron Kirk – also offers historical dark side of Edinburgh; with tales about Mary Kings Close, Mercat Cross, graverobbers, cannibals, plagues, the Great Fire, witchcraft, ghosts and ghouls.

This year there will also be an overnight trip around the city; featuring psychics and mystics as guides lead visitors through candlelit tombs and darkened vaults. For more information head over to Auld Reekie Tours.

Finally, the Channel Island of Jersey is also getting in on the ghoulish fun, with a walk exploring the origins and traditions of Halloween.

Visiting some of the most mysterious sites on the island, the tour will take in the Parish of St Clement, once the centre of Island witchcraft, see where the witches met with the Devil, while discovering the sites of hidden standing stones and an ancient passage grave.

Guests will also hear about a Wandering White Lady.

It is for you to decide what is fact, fiction, or folklore – as guide Geraldine Des Forges leads the believers on this five kilometre walk.

For more information visit Walk Jersey - with booking, and a good torch, strongly advised!

Chris O'Toole