Halloween Events for Kids Near Me: Scarium Family Night in Long Beach

Scarium Family Night runs one evening only this year: Friday, October 23, 2026, from 6:30 to 9 pm at the Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach. Tickets are $30.95, members pay $20.95, and children under 3 get in free. For Los Angeles County families looking up halloween events for kids near me, this is a rare chance to trick-or-treat past shark tanks after the daytime crowds have gone home, with a scavenger hunt and vampire magician shows built in.

Scarium is a separately ticketed night event, so a regular daytime ticket does not get you in after 6:30 pm. The ticket page carries its own event code, and the Aquarium's event listing tells families to buy before the tickets vanish into the night. Since it happens on a single Friday, the realistic plan is to buy as soon as you know the date works for your school week, because there is no second Scarium night to fall back on.

The event page lists the lineup in plain terms: a spooky self-guided scavenger hunt, trick-or-treating throughout the Aquarium with goodie bags provided, a DJ spinning monster mash-ups, kids activity booths, photo stations and vampire magician shows. All ages are welcome, but every child has to be supervised by an adult 18 or older, so teenagers cannot drop off younger siblings and leave.

The Aquarium of the Pacific opened on June 20, 1998, on the Rainbow Harbor waterfront in downtown Long Beach, and it was founded as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that same month. It now cares for roughly 12,000 animals, and its largest tank holds 350,000 gallons of seawater. The building's blue, wave-shaped roofline is easy to spot from Shoreline Drive, which helps when you are steering a wagon of costumed kids across the plaza in the dark.

The Aquarium's own exhibit list reads like a map of the Pacific: a Southern California gallery, a Northern Pacific gallery, a Tropical Pacific gallery with coral reefs, a Sea Otter Habitat, Shark Lagoon, the June Keyes Penguin Habitat, Lorikeet Forest and Jelly Dreamscapes, plus Pacific Visions, the newer wing with an immersive theater. At night those spaces feel completely different, lit mostly by the tanks, which is exactly what makes Scarium work for children who are too young for real haunted houses.

Use the scavenger hunt as your map rather than wandering. It pulls kids through galleries they might rush past on a busy Saturday, and the goodie bags handed out at the start give them somewhere to stash treats while their hands are free to point at fish. Shark Lagoon is the stop most children talk about afterward, so save it for the second half of the night, when the early rush around the entrance has thinned out.

The vampire magician shows are the one part of the evening with a fixed audience, so ask staff at the entrance when the next show starts and plan your loop around it. Photo stations are spread through the building rather than parked in one spot, so you do not need to queue at the very first backdrop you see. Your pirate will be just as photogenic in front of a jellyfish tank in Jelly Dreamscapes.

The Aquarium encourages family-friendly costumes but sets three firm limits: no full-face costume masks, no toy weapons and no flashlights. That rules out the plastic sword that completes a pirate outfit and the glow wand many kids carry on Halloween, so leave them in the car. Flashlights are banned for a good reason, since bright beams bounce off the glass and bother animals in dim exhibits, and the galleries are lit well enough to walk safely.

Bring your own stroller if you have a toddler; the Aquarium does not rent them, though it lends baby backpacks for free and sets up stroller parking on busy days. Outside food is not allowed inside, but there are picnic tables out on the plaza if you want a quick sandwich before the doors open. Same-day re-entry works with a hand stamp, which is useful if a sleepy three-year-old needs a break in the car.

The Aquarium's own parking structure is on Shoreline Drive between Chestnut Place and Aquarium Way, and it costs $8 for the day with Aquarium validation, so bring your parking ticket inside to get it stamped. Scarium starts at 6:30 pm on a Friday, so families driving in from across the county should plan around weekday rush hour on the 710 and the 405 rather than leaving at the last minute.

Transit works well here. The Metro A Line ends at the downtown Long Beach Transit Mall at Pine Avenue and 1st Street, about half a mile away, a 10-minute downhill walk to the Aquarium. Long Beach Transit's free Passport shuttle also stops at the Aquarium and runs every 8 to 12 minutes, which is the easier option on the walk back uphill with tired kids at 9 pm.

The event page pitches Scarium to the whole family, and the lineup tells you who it is really for: monster mash-ups, magicians in capes, treat bags and a scavenger hunt. The tone is silly rather than scary. That makes it a strong pick for a five-year-old who is spooked by jump scares, and a weaker pick for a twelve-year-old who wants real frights. Members get the biggest deal, paying $20.95 instead of $30.95.

If your older kids want something with more of an edge, the Aquarium's October calendar also lists a separate Fright Dive event on October 30 and extended hours on October 31, and those are different programs from Scarium. Families who cannot make the Friday date should treat the Halloween extended hours as the backup, with regular daytime admission rather than the trick-or-treat route.

The Aquarium sits on the Rainbow Harbor waterfront, and its parking page points visitors to Shoreline Village and The Pike Outlets as the nearby places to eat and walk. Arriving around 5:30 pm leaves time to stroll the harbor edge at sunset, with the Queen Mary visible across the water, before the 6:30 pm opening.

If you want dinner first, keep it close and casual so costumes stay intact, and remember that outside food cannot come into the Aquarium. The picnic tables on the plaza are the simplest place for a packed snack, and they put you a few steps from the entrance when the doors open.

Address: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802, extension 0 for event questions. Date: Friday, October 23, 2026, 6:30 to 9 pm. Tickets: $30.95 general, $20.95 members, free for children under 3, sold separately from daytime admission. Parking: $8 with validation in the Shoreline Drive structure. Rules: no full-face masks, toy weapons or flashlights; children supervised by an adult 18 or older; no outside food inside.