If you are curious about how other families celebrate Halloween, then this article is for you. With Sara, from the East Bay, Leïla from San Francisco, and Cécile from the South Bay, we share our Halloween traditions. We tell you all about our favorite fall activities, our Halloween decorations and costumes, and of course what we like to do on Halloween.
Favorite fall activities
Every year, we like to challenge ourselves in the world record corn maze in Dixon at Cool Patch Pumpkins. This corn maze is so huge that it takes us a little more than one hour to escape! We also like to explore a different pumpkin patch every year like the one we did last year in Half Moon Bay, Lemos Farm.
Their Halloween decoration
We like to decorate our house for Halloween but we are really light on the decorations compared to some American people! We recycle the same decor every year.
Favorite neighborhood for Halloween decoration
In our neighborhood, just a few houses are really decorated for Halloween. We like to go to Oakland in Haddon Hill and to Berkeley in Russell Street to enjoy spooky decorations and haunted-looking mansions.
Their Halloween costumes
We love to wear costumes on Halloween and to all dress up on the same theme. Last year, our theme was Astronauts and Space, the year before we were Demons and Angels and this year we're going to travel back in time and go to the Middle Ages.
Favorite Halloween events
We usually participate in the local Halloween event of our daughter’s swim team, trunk-or-treat, or at their schools. It’s always fun to see all the kids parading in their costumes.
Their Halloween day
On Halloween day, we usually trick-or-treat in a very busy street in our city and love watching everyone’s costumes.
Kids favorite treats
Their favorite treats are chocolate bars like Kit Kats.
Favorite fall activities
Pumpkin patches are quite new to me, I didn’t try them with my oldest one when he was young. We went once to Lemos Farms in Half Moon Bay. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin patches. Yes, the kids like them, and you can get cute pictures but they don’t feel really authentic to me. For us, Halloween is really all about finding the right costume and going trick-or-treating.
Their Halloween decoration
Until now we didn’t decorate our house but now that we have our own house we want to do it. Before that, we moved every two years so we didn’t feel like taking the time to decorate. Our oldest son is really looking forward to decorating our house and it will be fun to be more involved in the Halloween spirit. But being environmentally conscious, I don’t want to buy plastic stuff, I need to find second-hand decorations or things that fit my values.
Favorite neighborhood for Halloween decoration
There are a lot of decorated houses for Halloween in San Francisco and our new neighborhood, San Francis Wood, is known for its Halloween decorations. In our old Neighborhood in Noe Valley, Fair Oaks Street is also very well decorated.
Their Halloween costumes
My husband and I don’t really wear costumes but my sons do. We go to a second-hand store, Chloe’s Closet and it really is our family tradition. We choose the costumes depending on what they have in store but if my kids want something specific we will try to do it ourselves, for example, last year my son wanted a robot mask so my husband made it. This year my oldest son has decided to dress as Luffy from One Piece and we will dress as his crew members, so for the first time ever we will do a family costume theme! We will use handmade items and incorporate clothes that we already have. I don’t think I will ever buy a new costume, it is really easy to find used ones and my younger son will probably wear one of my oldest son's previous costumes.
Favorite Halloween events
My oldest son's school takes the students trick-or-treating in our neighborhood stores. Other than that we have not been to any Halloween events. I have a store and often work on the weekends so we don’t really have the opportunity to go to a lot of events.
Their Halloween day
On Halloween day they usually go to school in their costumes. We meet with other families, have a drink together, and go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Depending on where we lived at the time we used to go to Noe Valley, then Chenery in Glen Park. In Noe Valley, the merchants of 24th Street organize a trick or treat in the afternoon, Fair Oaks is also very well-known for its trick or treat and people from all over San Francisco come here to participate. This year we don’t know yet if we will go back to Glen Park or try trick or treating in our new neighborhood, San Francis Wood. Maybe we’ll do both!
Both kids love Halloween, especially our oldest one, the end of the year is always a joyful time for him. Our youngest was born during the pandemic so last year was really its first Halloween and he liked it.
Kids favorite treats
They like candies but like most of the kids, they probably eat just a small fraction of what they receive. What my oldest one really likes about going trick is watching the creativity of some of our neighbors who build candy chutes, mechanical hands, or other amazing decorations.
Favorite fall activities
I love going to pumpkin patches, I think I have tried most of the South Bay ones. We usually go to 2 or 3 pumpkin patches each year. With my daughter we like going to the small ones with inflatable bouncers and slides like ABC Farm on weekdays after school and on weekends we will go to bigger ones that are often further from our house. I like Spina Farms and I think my favorite one is Swank Farms, it is far away from our house but there are a lot of things to do there. I did the Trail of Lights and Fright last year. My daughter likes to be scared and she really was. There were some things she didn’t want to look at but she still liked it. you are in the dark in a corn maze with people screaming around you, there are actors, animated scary objects, and spooky music. It was fun, I would definitely do it again. We went to Arata’s last year, we also tried Webb Ranch, it was nice, not too far from our house but on the smaller side. I went to Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay before the pandemic but it was way too crowded for me.
Their Halloween decoration
I love to decorate my house, I usually have a Fall decor, and in mid-October I switch to Halloween. This year I didn’t have time to start before so I will put directly my Halloween decorations. I started to buy decorations 9 years ago and I chose a cemetery’s theme with graves, corpses, and scary animals like rats and crows. I use the same decor every year but some objects are starting to break down so this year I will have to buy some new ones. I used to decorate inside my house before because my first house was perfect for it, it had a fireplace with wood panels around it. In my current house, I don’t really have a great setup for it so I don’t do it anymore.
Favorite neighborhood for Halloween decoration
The houses in my current neighborhood are not decorated, maybe just one or two houses and it was the same in my old neighborhood, it’s a shame.
I don’t really know which neighborhoods have great Halloween decorations. I have heard of Willow Glen in San Jose, I love their Christmas decorations, so I will try it this year for Halloween.
Their Halloween costumes
We have done family theme costumes twice in the past, Harry Potter and Mexican Skeletons, but each one can decide for themselves what costume they want, we also always have a costume for our dog. My husband doesn’t want to spend money on his costume so he alternates between Freddy Kruger and Skeleton. I have a vampire and a zombie costume, my daughter has a Maleficent and a witch costume. We usually buy them at a Spirit Halloween store (I love going there to look at all the costumes and decor) and if I need a custom accessory I sometimes use a 3D printer. We try to reuse the different parts of our costumes and buy new ones every 2 to 3 years.
I am a creative person so I like to take pictures and even make short Halloween films with my daughter and sometimes even my husband. I love creating these videos: thinking about the script during my bi-weekly runs, acting, shooting, and editing them. You can find all our Halloween content on Instagram.
Favorite Halloween events
My daughter always participates in her school’s parade. With her Cheer club they also have a Halloween party and this year we are doing a trunk or treat, I have never done that before and I am very excited to decorate my car, I have a small gumball machine and each participant will have to find the coin to operate it, hidden in a touch and feel Halloween box.
A long time ago, I think it was in 2014, I went to Santana Row’s trick-or-treat event and my daughter liked it. We also tried the Creepy Crawly Halloween Trick-or-Treat with our late dog in Downtown Campbell, I liked it but it was very crowded and our dog was very small so it was not the best for her. I went to Gilroy Gardens for their Halloween celebration in 2017 but I was very disappointed because I felt there was nothing really special for Halloween, it was just like every other day. We tried the Halloween event organized by our previous school district Moreland which is open to anyone and we liked it.
We have never been to a real haunted house but now that my daughter is older I think we can probably try one.
Their Halloween day
I have tried multiple places for trick or treating, in Paynes Neighborhood in San Jose, in Sunnyvale near Raynor Park, I have once been to Roseville with some friends who lived there and where the houses were very well decorated. I have also been a couple of times in Los Altos near Montclaire Elementary School. This year, as I mentioned, I might try to go to Willow Glen in San Jose.
Kids favorite treats
My daughter doesn’t eat chocolate bars, she will eat some candies but mostly she prefers treats like slime.
Favorite fall activities
I love to visit pumpkin patches with my kids. My husband is not a fan of crowded places so I usually try to go on a weekday after school with other friends’ families. But we try to go to at least one pumpkin patch just the four of us. We loved to go to Uesugi in San Martin when our daughter was a toddler but it closed at the end of 2019. We have been a couple of times at Swank Farms in Hollister, our kids liked the activities but it is a long drive for us. Last year we tried their Trail of Lights and Frights, they have two paths on this trail one family-friendly and another one a lot scarier. Since our children are still young we did the family-friendly one and we were a bit disappointed. We thought it would be spooky in a cute way but it was a bit too scary for very young children with spooky dolls, realistic skeletons and scary music and it was really expensive for a short trail. We tried Arata’s in Half Moon Bay 2 years ago, we thought it was overpriced but our children had a good time. For the last couple of years, we have been to Spina Farms in Morgan Hill and we really like the cow train the hayride, and the corn maze, there are a lot of activities for the kids so we plan on going there again this year.
Their Halloween decoration
We always decorate our house, we started when we moved to California, at first it was just carved pumpkins now we try to buy one new decor every year with one constraint, we don’t want to buy huge items that take up a ton of space to store. Inside the house, we also buy mini-pumpkins that we decorate with paint pens because it is far easier than carving them. Decorating the house is always a fun moment and our kids are so happy to help us decorate.
Favorite neighborhood for Halloween decoration
In our neighborhood, unfortunately, very few houses are decorated. But there is one family that goes all in with a haunted house in their garage and amazing front yard decorations. They usually change the theme every year and a lot of the decor is handmade, this is amazing. We have not yet found exceptional neighborhoods for Halloween decoration in the South Bay but we have been to some streets in our friends’ neighborhoods that still have a lot of decorated houses, like Teal Drive in Sunnyvale.
Their Halloween costumes
Usually, our children want to wear costumes of their latest favorite characters so it is not easy to do family costumes. During the pandemic, since there was no trick-or-treating we decided to do a family costume to cheer our daughter and she picked Frozen, our son was Olaf, he was too young to complain! Last year the kids were dressed as Paw Patrol pups and this year they are planning to be Miraculous Ladybug characters, they agreed on matching costumes between themselves but we are not forcing them to do it. With my husband, we don’t want to spend too much on costumes for ourselves so we try to use the accessories we already have. I have a sewing machine so each year I tell myself that I am going to sew something but I never do it!
Favorite Halloween events
The PTO at our daughter’s school organizes a Halloween event with trunk or treats, games and a haunted house. We went last year and it was really fun so we will go again this year. Our family loves amusement parks, this year for the first time, we went to Gilroy Gardens for their Great Big Boo event with friends. We all had a good time, the live show was cute and the kids liked the attractions. To be honest I expected more Halloween decor but it was still great. We have been to Great America for their Tricks and Treats event, we just had a couple of hours there so we didn’t see all the entertainment but we liked what we saw, there was a lot of decorations and a lot of people were wearing costumes. I would like to come back and stay longer and maybe come during the evening but without the kids because it is probably too scary for them.
Their Halloween day
On Halloween day, we always go trick-or-treating with friends, we went a couple of times in the Paynes neighborhood in San Jose. For the last three years, we have been going to Teal Drive in Sunnyvale, the houses are very well-decorated and the neighbors are super friendly. We try to come back home not too late because our daughter also wants to be able to give out candy to the children who come by our house.
Kids favorite treats
My kids love Sour Patch, Gummy Bears and chocolate bars but they also like to have non-candy treats like Squishies, stickers and tattoos.
