60 free and cheap halloween events in nyc
new to the skint? sign up for our daily email and get the best free and cheap things to do in new york city delivered to your inbox every day.
parties + events
10/25-26 11am-4:30pm: get lost in the queens county farm museum’s three-acre interactive ‘amazing maize’ maze. $9 maze admission, free farm admission 10/25, $5 10/26. >>
10/25 12:30pm: the amazing brooklyn halloween scavenger hunt promises to challenge questers mentally and physically, so pack a metro card and wear comfy shoes. $15 with promo code ‘skinthunt’ (reg. $25). >>
10/25 3-7pm: dance to michael jackson’s ‘thriller’ for the annual ‘thrill the world’ – a worldwide simultaneous reenactment of the music video for world records and charity. coney island’s west 10th street pavilion, $5+ to participate, free to watch. >>
10/25 8pm doors: wit’s end and the dorothy parker society celebrate the jazz age at their sixth annual black cat masquerade with live music from gelber + manning. 1920s-40s vintage/vintage-inspired attire recommended. flute midtown, $15. >>
10/25 9pm-4am: gemini + scorpio’s sixth annual ‘masquerade macabre’ party features music by circus composer sxip shirey, french brass band radio kaizman, and djs joro boro and shakey, plus burlesque, fortune-telling, absinthe, and more. lightspace studios (bushwick). $20 adv, $25 door, $15 after midnight. >>
10/26 4-8pm: pumpkin hacking! nyc resistor, $5. >>
10/26 8pm: halloween scholar lesley bannatyne gives an illustrated lecture on her new book, halloween: an american holiday, an american history. the morbid anatomy museum. $8. >>
10/28 7pm: author anne rice launches prince lestat, the newest vampire chronicle, at 192 books. purchase of the book required for admission. >>
10/29 7pm: the center for fiction celebrate the reissue of washington irving’s the legend of sleepy hollow and other stories with a round robin reading of the famous short story. scheduled to read: lev grossman, megan abbott, tonya hurley, peter lerangis, and more. free (rsvp). >>
10/29 8pm: local bands perform as prince, smashing pumpkins, the strokes, yeah yeah yeahs, and death from above 1979 at baby’s all right. $10. >>
10/29 9-11pm: pumpkin carving!: $20 gets you a pumpkin, tools, sixpoint sensi beer, treats, and zombie face painting at bushwick’s café ghia. rsvp required. >>
10/30 5-8pm: sample halloween candy + booze pairings at bottlerocket wine + spirits. free. >>
10/30-31 7pm: take a twilight tour of woodlawn cemetery and hear tales about unsolved mysteries and the untimely endings of some of its more famous residents. $20 general admission, $15 students/seniors. >>
10/30 8pm: pumpkin carving contest! $15 gets you a pumpkin, tools, spiked apple cider, and baked seeds for snacking. passenger bar (williamsburg). >>
10/30 8:30pm: dress up as your favorite internet meme or viral video star at the fifth annual hallowmeme costume party. the bell house, free (rsvp required). >>
10/31 4, 5pm (+ 11/1): crypt crawl: explore the crypt of the cathedral church of st. john the divine while hearing about the evolution of halloween from the celtic new year celebration to all hallow’s eve. $20 general, $15 students/seniors. >>
10/31 5pm-?: halloween 313: a clinton hill private residence becomes a haunted house with a unique theme each year. 313 clinton ave (bet. lafayette + dekalb), free. >>
new 10/31 6pm-2am: get all weird at royal palms shuffleboard’s weird al-oween party, and compete in an ’i love rocky road’ ample hills creamery ice cream eating contest, a dance off, and a costume contest. free admission. >>
10/31 6:30pm: the annual park slope children’s halloween parade (the largest in the u.s.) marches from 14th st. and 7th ave to washington park for a community gathering and parade bands. free. >>
10/31 7-11pm: whoopi goldberg will grand marshal the massive 41st annual village halloween parade up sixth ave from spring to 16th sts. anyone in costume can march (line up on 6th ave @ canal 6:30-8:30pm). free. >>
10/31 7pm-3am: the salon’s halloween stomp, a vintage film inspired masquerade party, features four hot jazz, swing, and blues bands, plus burlesque and gogo dancers, swing djs, and video projections. free dance lesson 7:30-8pm. costumes/themed attire encouraged. ages 18+. 4 w. 43rd st, bet. 5th + 6th aves., $20-25 adv (thru 10/25), $30-35 (after 10/26), $20 after 11:30pm. >>
10/31 7:30pm doors, 8pm show: halloween oates play the free friday show at knitting factory. >>
10/31 7:30pm doors, 8pm show: dionne warwick tribute band dionne werewolf, a folk michael jackson cover band, and a fleetwood mac tribute play friends and lovers. $5 with costume, $10 without. >>
new 10/31 7:30pm doors, 8pm show: five olde-tyme bands perform at the second annual rotten apple roots + bluegrass halloween show at union hall. $12. >>
10/31 8pm: gas station horror: hosts j. w. crump and jordan hirsch show 30-second scenes from b-horror films purchased from gas stations and bodegas, which are then finished by improvisors. plus, giveaways, raffles, and trivia. the pit, $8 adv, $10 door, $1 for students. >>
10/31 8pm: ukulele cabaret’s rocky horror party includes songs from the rocky horror picture show (played on uke, of course), drinking games, an open mic, karaoke, and lots of audience participation. ‘you better come dressed up if you know what’s good for you.’ dress rehearsal 10/24, show 10/31. jimmy’s no. 43, free. >>
10/31 8pm: local bands perform as nirvana, devo, television, the beach boys, blink 182, and more at cakeshop. $6 with costume, $8 without. >>
10/31 8pm: wear lederhosen or a dirndl, get a free drink a loreley restaurant + biergarten’s oktoberfest halloween party. free. >>
10/31 8pm: country/bluegrass musicians perform supernatural songs and murder ballads at jalopy. $10. >>
10/31 8pm-2am: wythe hotel’s third annual dia de los muertos party gets started with an open milagro tequila monetlobos, mezcal, and ancho reyes bar 8-9pm, and terrible records djs keep it going from there. $20. >>
new 10/31 8pm-12am, 12am-4am: moma ps1 celebrates all things queens at the ’halloqueens’ ball and haunted warehouse after party. $15 for the ball, $30 includes the after party. >>
10/31 8pm doors, 8:30pm show: party with the undead at the sixth annual zombie prom. a blood-splattered photo booth will capture memories forever, and live music will be performed by the hollows, sylvana joyce and the moment, corn mo, and t.r.j.b. littlefield, $15 afv, $20 dos >>
10/31 9pm-3am: mary’s bar in the south slope takes on a carrie prom theme. free. >>
10/31 9pm-3am: delicate steve, heeney, advaeta, and other local bands perform as red hot chili peppers, weezer, pixies, hole, and more. all ages. the silent barn, $10 with costume, $12 without. >>
10/31 9pm-4am: cobra club’s annual zombie prom features 80s music, karaoke, a photo booth, and $2 six point draughts 9pm-midnight. free. >>
10/31 9:30pm: bands masquerade as seattle bands pearl jam, soundgarden, nirvana, and alice in chains. drom, $16 adv, $20 door. >>
10/31 10pm: disco back in time to 1977 at cameo’s studio 54 themed party. $10 adv or before midnight with rsvp, $15 door. >>
10/31 10pm-1am: drinks won’t be cheap, but the space at the bryant park hotel’s cellar bar is pretty damn cool. $20. >>
10/31 10pm-2am: bamcafé’s boogie down dance party features djs spinning soul, hip-hop, reggae, house, latin, and afrobeat. free. >>
10/31 11pm: the weekly saved by the 90s party with cover band the bayside tigers takes on a halloween theme at lpr. $15. >>
10/31 11pm-4am: cherylween, the annual party from cheryl (‘the dance party that will ruin your life’), has a bi theme this year. secret project robot, $15. >>
10/31 11:30pm doors: the second annual ‘halloween in the black lodge’ twin peaks-themed party at glasslands features dj sets from thatsourwaldo, smoking mirror, and a place both wonderful and strange. $5. >>
10/31 midnight: mr. brownstone, ’the worlds drunkest tribute to guns ‘n’ roses’, performs at brooklyn bowl. $10. >>
10/31 midnight: sing your halloween heart out with the kings of karaoke at union hall. free. >>
thru 11/1: the annual gravesend inn, a haunted hotel created by city tech’s resident theatrical troupe, returns for its 15th year of tours. 186 jay st, brooklyn, $8 general, $5 students. >>
movie/tv-related
10/25 11:15pm: new retro-style slasher film lake nowhere premieres at cinema village. $10. >>
10/26 7:30pm: nerd cabaret hosts ’hallowhedon’, an evening celebrating joss whedon with full performances of dr. horrible’s sing-along blog and ‘once more with feeling’, the musical episode of buffy the vampire slayer. $5. >>
10/26 7:30pm doors, 8pm show: the muppet vault series presents classic, rare and unreleased muppet, sesame street + jim henson works at union hall. tonight’s theme: ‘monsters!’. plus, trivia and prizes. $8. >>
10/30 4, 5, 7, 10pm: videology screens a nightmare on elm street all day long (4pm), plus scream (5pm), and 1920’s the cabinet of dr. caligari (10pm). free. >>
10/30 7pm (ends today): grab some free popcorn at the graham’s horror movies series. tonight: a cult classic film marathon: fright night, carrie, hellraiser, children of the corn. free admission. >>
10/30-31 7pm (thursdays): bow tie cinemas screens halloween and mommie dearest as part of its ‘chelsea classics’ series. $8. >>
10/30 7:30pm doors, 8:30pm film: tribeca cinemas screens tim burton’s beetlejuice (1988), followed by a dance party. costumes strongly encouraged. $15 admission includes a one-hour open vodka bar before the film. >>
10/30 9pm: nitehawk’s ‘live sound cinema’ series presents a screening of alfred hitchcock’s 1927 silent film the lodger with a live score performed by morricone youth. $16. >>
10/31 4, 7, 9:30pm: videology screens halloween all day long (4pm), plus f. w. murnau’s 1922 nosferatu with a live score performed by tenth intervention (7pm), and witchboard (1986) paired with ouiji board playing (9:30pm). free. >>
10/31 6:30pm doors, 8pm film: guitarist gary lucas performs an original guitar score to the original frankenstein (1931), starring boris karloff. the united palace of cultural arts, $10 adv, $15 door. >>
10/31 7pm: watch the silent 1925 film phantom of the opera with live organ accompaniment at trinity church. free (donations accepted). >>
10/31 7, 10pm: 1925 silent classic the phantom of the opera gets an atmospheric screening at the cathedral church of saint john the divine, followed by the annual procession of ghouls. $25. >>
10/31 7:30pm: the museum of the moving image’s ’see it big!’ horror screening series ends with poltergeist. $12. >>
update: this event is on 10/30, not 10/31 10/31 7:30pm doors, 8:30pm film: tribeca cinemas screens tim burton’s beetlejuice (1988), followed by a dance party. costumes strongly encouraged. $15 admission includes a one-hour open vodka bar before the film. >>
10/31 8pm, 10pm, midnight: spectacle screens george a. romero’s 1968 night of the living dead (8pm, 10pm) and a series of shorts at midnight. $5. >>
10/31 10pm: drag queen/comedian/singer hedda lettuce hosts an interactive screening of mommie dearest (1981) with a joan crawford costume contest. bow tie chelsea cinemas, $20. >>
10/31-11/6: film forum screens 1920 german silent horror film classic, the cabinet of dr. caligari. $13. >>
10/31-11/6: the film society of lincoln center’s annual scary movies series returns for its eighth edition. $13. >>
doggie costume contests
10/25 11am: fort greene park >>
10/25 12-3pm: the east village’s tompkins square park >>
10/25 1pm: greenpoint’s mcgorlick park >>
10/26 1-3pm: brooklyn heights promenade >>
10/26 1-4pm: williamsburg’s mccarren park dog run >>
10/26 2-4pm: prospect park’s north long meadow >>
bonus
10/31: get a free krispy kreme doughnut (including the ghostbusters ones) when you wear your costume in participating locations. >>
new 10/31: get a free cookie when you show up in costume at insomnia cookies. >>
new 10/31 11am, 12pm: the first 25 people at babeland’s les, soho and park slope locations will get a free vibrator. arrive in costume, and you’ll be entered to win a $100 gift basket.
10/31: 5pm-close: get a $3 chipotle burrito, bowl, salad or taco order when you walk into any location in costume. proceeds benefit the chipotle cultivate foundation. >>
the party continues
11/1 5:30pm: the amazing ghosts of new york scavenger hunt promises to challenge questers mentally and physically, so pack a metro card and wear comfy shoes. $15 with promo code ‘skinthunt’ (reg. $25). >>
11/1 7:30pm doors, 8pm show: we’re looking forward to the stay puft marshmallow man at this month’s drinking game/live staged reading of ghostbusters. union hall, $15. >>
subscribe to the skint daily email
follow the skint on facebook and twitter
share 
