Halloween Events for Kids Near Me: Kidspace Halloween Bash in Pasadena

Kidspace Children's Museum holds three Halloween costume parades every day at 11am, 1pm and 3pm through October 31, 2026, and they are free with the museum's $17 admission. The museum sits at 480 N. Arroyo Boulevard in Pasadena's Brookside Park, beside the Rose Bowl. For Los Angeles parents of preschoolers who search halloween events for kids near me, its Halloween Bash is the most toddler-sized costume party in the county, with a spooky house you ride through on a trike.

Kidspace was founded in 1979 by members of the Caltech community and the Junior League of Pasadena. It started at Caltech with a pilot exhibit called Making Senses, moved to Rosemont Pavilion with help from ArtCenter and JPL, and from 1981 to 2002 operated out of McKinley School in just 13,500 square feet.

In 2004 it moved to its current home, the Fannie E. Morrison Horticultural Center in Brookside Park, in the heart of the Arroyo Seco. The greenhouses and a pergola wrapped in 150-year-old wisteria vines gave it room for outdoor play, and later additions include the Galvin Physics Forest in 2012, the Imagination Workshop in 2014 and the Arroyo Adventure in 2016. More than 5 million visitors have come through since the start.

The parades are the heart of the Halloween Bash. Pirates, princesses, magicians and mermaids are invited to march, dance and strut through the museum at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, every day the museum is open through Halloween. Because there are three, you can skip the crowded 11am parade and catch the 1pm one after lunch, when many families with babies have already gone home for naps.

These parades are built for the youngest visitors, so there is no judging, no stage fright and no scary costumes competing for attention. A two-year-old in a pumpkin suit fits right in. Parents should know the museum asks adults to stay with their children at all times, so plan to walk alongside rather than watch from a bench.

Bring a change of clothes for the youngest marchers. Much of Kidspace is outdoors on its garden campus, and between the parade, the trikes and the Arroyo Adventure, a tulle skirt or felt dinosaur tail rarely survives the morning clean.

The ride that makes kids beg to go again is a trike course through a spooky house. It is a mild thrill, aimed at preschool and early elementary ages, and the line is shortest right after a parade starts, when most children are marching. Send one parent to the trikes while the other walks the parade if you have two kids with different tastes.

In the Witch's Kitchen, children mix up a magical potion from pretend dragon scales and unicorn tears, then say the magic word. The Pumpkin Bowling Alley is a Halloween bowling lane for kids who need to throw something, and in the Imagination Workshop, the Adopt-a-Monster activity lets them design a silly or scary monster of their own to take home.

The LEGO Monster Build, where kids built monsters inspired by the LEGOLAND Brick-or-Treat Street model, ran only on October 3 and 4, so do not plan your visit around it. The parades, trike house, Witch's Kitchen, bowling and monster workshop continue through October 31.

On November 1, the museum switches to Día de los Muertos with a celebration of life for the Day of the Dead. For families who cannot make it in person, the museum's Halloween at Home videos cover spooky science topics such as the power of a pumpkin, decomposition, creepy spiders and nocturnal neighbors, a decent rainy-day substitute.

If you would rather host than visit, Kidspace also books Halloween parties, for a whole class or a family get-together, in indoor or outdoor spaces sized for 20 to 100 guests. And if you expect to come back more than twice in a year, membership is worth pricing out: members get in free, and the museum counts more than 6,000 members as part of its community.

General admission is $17 for adults and $17 for children one and older, $15 for seniors 62 and up, and free for infants and members. Kidspace does not accept cash, so bring a card. Regular hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm, which means the museum is closed on Mondays, including the Monday before Halloween.

Watch the calendar around Rose Bowl events. The museum posted special hours of 9am to 4pm on Friday, October 16, and 9am to 1pm on Saturday, October 17, because of an event at the stadium next door. On a big game day, arrive at opening and leave before the stadium crowd fills the surrounding streets.

Free parking is available in Rose Bowl Lot I, near the Jackie Robinson Baseball Field and the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. Families who cycle can lock up at bike racks in Brookside Park next to the museum, though there are no racks inside, and the museum is also reachable by Metro and Pasadena Transit. Its outdoor campus covers 3.5 acres, so stroller wheels get plenty of use.

Kidspace is best for children from about one to eight. Older kids who want real scares will outgrow it in an hour, and for them the honest suggestion is a different outing. After your visit, Brookside Park and the Arroyo Seco around the Rose Bowl make an easy place to let costumed kids run on the grass before the drive home.

Address: Kidspace Children's Museum, 480 N. Arroyo Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91103. Halloween Bash: through Saturday, October 31, 2026, with costume parades daily at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. Admission: $17 adults and children, $15 seniors, infants and members free; card only. Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

Best plan: arrive at 10am in costume, ride the spooky trike house before the first parade, join the 11am or 1pm parade, then finish in the Witch's Kitchen and the Adopt-a-Monster workshop. Halloween itself falls on a Saturday this year, so expect the biggest crowd that morning and consider a weekday visit the week before instead.