The Ultimate Guide to Halloween in Texas
Halloween in Texas has a distinctive flavor. Given our state’s love for doing things big, Halloween events here include massive haunted houses, corn mazes, and festivals. Larger-than-life local myths and legends rooted in our Southern Gothic heritage give the season a sense of spirit. Plus, the influence of Mexican culture delivers a fusion of Halloween and Día de Muertos, creating a colorful, multicultural celebration.
However, the most notable thing about Halloween in Texas is our community spirit. Small Texas towns and urban and suburban neighborhoods alike have strong bonds here. Trick-or-treating events, DIY haunted houses, and parties bring together neighbors, friends, and family for spooktacular celebrations. It’s a bootiful thing!
This guide will help you make this Halloween one for the books with trick-or-treating pointers, spooky road trip ideas, and everything you need to deck out your house and throw an unforgettable monster mash.
Trick-or-Treating Safety
The fun of trick-or-treating lies in its unique combination of adventure, community, creativity, and — of course — chocolates and candy galore! Over the years, Texans have created their own variations on the tradition, with trunk-or-treat events and trick-or-treating at malls and places of worship. However you do it, brushing up on ways to stay safe on Halloween night is always a good idea.
The influx of pedestrians, nighttime drivers, and wardrobe malfunctions on Halloween night can be frightful, but a few precautions can prevent accidents. Pre-plan your trick-or-treating route to avoid unlit streets and unfamiliar neighborhoods. Don’t send your kids out in costumes that obstruct their eyesight or come with fake weapons that may appear real from afar. If your kids are old enough to go alone, make sure they know your phone number. Teach kids not to accept handmade candy and throw out packages that have opened or damaged wrappers.
Neighborhood Fun
Halloween in Texas is an excellent excuse to come together with your neighborhood for fun, collaborative festivities. In addition to traditional trick-or-treating, consider bringing your community together for a pumpkin carving party, neighborhood scavenger hunt, movie night, or costume contest. And if you don’t know what to wear, a Texas-themed family costume is a sure winner! (How adorable would your kids be as Big Tex and a Corny Dog?)
Haunting Your House
For some, a few tasteful pumpkins on the porch are simply not enough. If you yearn for more creative Halloween décor, a DIY haunted house is just the opportunity to share your talents with the world.
The first step is settling on your theme. Halloween décor ranges from lighthearted and cute to scary and gruesome. Do you want to transform your home into a whimsical pumpkin patch or ground zero for the zombie apocalypse? Is an uncanny carnival or a mad scientist’s laboratory more your style? Whichever you choose, go big at the entrance to set the tone when guests arrive.
Pumpkin Carving
Pumpkins are the pièce de resistance of any haunted home, greeting guests on your doorstep. Lucky for Texans, pumpkins grow well here. You can find pick-your-own-pumpkin farms across the state, including some in West Texas famed for Cinderella-sized fruits. Choose a firm pumpkin with a hard, woody stem — it’s more likely to last several weeks.
When carving your jack-o’-lantern, don’t just wing it with a Sharpie and a steak knife. Emergency rooms see several lacerations on Halloween from pumpkin carving incidents — and unless you’re dressed as a mummy, you probably don’t want to spend your evening wrapped in gauze. Use sharp (never dull) knives to carve your design or special pumpkin carving tools available online or at Halloween stores. While the traditional way to gut a pumpkin is through the stem, cutting a circle in the back of the pumpkin is recommended to maintain the pumpkin’s structural integrity. Use a flickering LED light instead of a candle to reduce the risk of your pumpkin becoming a fire hazard.
Monster Bash Goodies
No monster bash is complete without adorable Halloween-themed treats. Dirt cups with wiggly worms and green sherbet punch are a good start. Get the kids to help you make marshmallow eyeballs using jumbo marshmallows with edible markers or baby bats, using a mini peanut butter cup, candy eyes, and Oreo cookie wings. Treat-making can be an activity for party guests, too. For example, DIY Day of the Dead chocolate sugar skulls double as an activity and a take-home souvenir.
Halloween Games
Party games are essential to keep guests entertained. Get the fun started with classic party games with a Halloween twist, like bobbing for apples in a witch’s cauldron, pin the tail on the ghost, a Halloween whodunnit murder mystery, or an exquisite corpse-style communal drawing of a monster.
For exciting, active Halloween games, get your guests’ blood pumping with an egg and spoon race, “wrap the mummy” race using toilet paper, or pumpkin patch stomp (essentially, stomping on orange balloons — it’s organized chaos!). Then, cool down with a mini movie marathon featuring Halloween classics to round out the entertainment.
Bat Watching
Texas is home to 32 of the 47 bat species in the United States and has the largest known bat colony in the world at Bracken Cave Preserve outside of San Antonio. If you want to spot these majestic, nocturnal creatures in person, there are multiple primo places for bat sightings in Austin, San Antonio Blanco County, Houston, and more. Just remember to keep your voice low and avoid shining any bright light, as it will frighten them away.
Spooky Road Trips
Texas is truly a gold mine for thrill-seekers and paranormal enthusiasts. Our rich history is filled with legends, ghost stories, and haunted locales that would give anyone the chills. Why not take a Halloween weekend excursion to the haunted towns and places in Texas? See if you can spot the half-goat specter haunting the Old Alton Bridge in Argyle. Or dare to stay on the 19th floor of the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, where supposedly you can hear the cries of a jilted ghost bride ring down the halls. Or take a trip to see the White Lady of Rio Frio, who supposedly appears as white wisps of mist on the Frio River.
Texas also has no shortage of unexplained phenomena, toeing the line between the world we know and confounding mysteries. If you believe the truth is out there, you may just find it with a DIY investigation into eerie unsolved Texas mysteries. Go hunting for chupacabra (that’s a hairless, vampiric canine-like creature who attacks livestock). Or see the Malakoff Man, rocks that mysteriously resemble human skulls, and others at the Pearce Museum at Navarro College in Corsicana.
Don’t throw out those pumpkin guts! Repurpose the goodness inside your jack-o’-lantern in autumn pumpkin recipes like fluffy pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin lasagna, creamy pumpkin soup, and more.
