October Half-Term & Halloween 2023 events in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight

Are you ready to discover the best October Half-Term & Halloween 2023 events in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight for you and your family? This is a big one… because there are SO many fantastic events and activities to enjoy this October half-term and Halloween!

Autumn half-term fun

Make the most of the crisp, autumnal weather by taking a walk or a cycle through Hampshire’s beautiful countryside. Choose from routes in the New Forest National Park, in the South Downs National Park or along the Hampshire coastline. With routes available to suit all walking and cycling abilities.

Experience autumn’s magic during the October half term at CycleExperience with an unforgettable adventure in the ancient New Forest. But will visitors be brave enough to collect their bikes from the haunted hire centre? Embrace the spirit of the season with a delightfully spooky day amidst trees almost a millennium old. Get ready for a wheelie good time! 

Looking for something to amaze the kids this half term? Morgan & West bring their ‘Massive Magic Show for Kids’ to the New Theatre Royal. Expect gawps, gasps, and guffaws in this relentlessly funny and fantastical magic-filled extravaganza, guaranteed to delight children and their grown-ups!

Visit The Putt Hutt for an unforgettable half-term adventure! Rain or shine, they promise incredible family fun with an 18-hole indoor golf course. Experience traditional and retro seaside-themed challenges that will delight all ages. Open every day at Clarence Pier, Southsea. Swing into the excitement here!

MAST Mayflower Studios have a range of shows to entertain the kids over the half-term break… The UK’s hottest circus company, Barely Methodical Troupe brings you their five-star hit show, KIN, about group dynamics and camaraderie on 21st October. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt comes to MAST between 26th – 29th October.

Theatre Royal Winchester has a packed line-up to keep children and young people entertained this October half-term holiday, starting with Spontaneous Potter Kidz on Sunday 22 October – the smash hit wizarding comedy improv based entirely on audience suggestions! I Believe In Unicorns  – an interactive and award-winning show, performs on 23rd. Plus, for audiences 14+, on Friday 27 October, America’s Got Talent winner, Paul Zerdin: Puppetman, brings to life an array of ‘funny and sharp-tongued’ characters.

The theatre is also hosting the Playmakers event – Work in Theatre: A Performing Arts Career Insight Day on Wednesday 25th October. A day of short workshops for ages 12 – 15 to explore the careers available in the theatre industry.

Halloween Spooks 

Experience Halloween at Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower: join the spooky pumpkin trail, hear ghost stories from the city’s past, and enjoy panoramic views. Dress up, explore, and complete the trail for a Halloween treat. Free with admission, suitable for all ages. Unforgettable half-term fun with family and friends awaits. 

Until 5 November, a family-friendly exhibition at Mottisfont explores the classic children’s books created by Allan and Janet Ahlberg. From 23 September, original artworks from the Funnybones series will be added to the gallery, and families can enjoy an autumn trail inspired by the spooky skeletons.

Little ghouls and ghosts – and all fans of things that go bump in the night – will enjoy fiendish fun at the wickedly wonderful Watercress Line this Halloween. The spook-tacular Wizard Week runs from October 21st to 29th with plenty of magic and mayhem guaranteed.

Enjoy a hauntingly good time at 878 AD and get stuck in with some classic Anglo-Saxon medicines and remedies! Work with Winchester’s local healers and leeches to create cures, supply salves and help heal the good folk of Wessex. These interactive sessions will allow you, friends and family to experience the peculiar potions of the past and even allow you to try creating your own! 

Have an amazing October half-term at Beaulieu. Listen to spooky ghost stories and see Lord Montagu’s cook-bake seasonal recipes in Palace House! Watch falconry in the atmospheric ruins of Beaulieu Abbey, and hunt for ghostly ghouls around the attraction! Don’t forget to see headline exhibition “Motopia? Past Future Visions in the National Motor Museum too. 

Join Milestones for some spooktacular fun at the museum. Have a ghoulishly good time as you follow the Halloween trail around Milestones to spot who’s haunting the museum’s buildings… With eerie effects and traditional Halloween decorations, enjoy a wicked wander through our cobbled streets – if you dare! 

Have a Howlin’ Halloween this half term at New Forest Wildlife Park during the most spooky time of year with some ghoulish additions to the park. Will you dare put your hand inside the mystery box to guess what’s inside? Create some potions and creepy craft making and follow the chilling clues to find all the hidden pumpkins.

Hampshire’s Haunted Brickworks Museum has lots of spooky goings on this October with their Autumn Steam Up event, interactive LEGO® brick days, and on October 29th they are hosting a day of spooky fun with spine-tingling stories for all ages.  

Enjoy ‘Creatures of the Night’ themed craft activities at the Army Flying Museum this October Half |Term every weekday between 10am and 12.30pm. Plus, meet the Critter Clan on Tuesday 24th October, when they’ll bring nature alive with amazing creatures from around the world between 10am and 2pm. Included with admission.

There’ll be giggles, gasps and gases at Winchester Science Centre’s Science Spooktacular. Hit the dance floor at the mini monster disco. Swap spooky scares for frightfully fun science in the Trick or Treat trail. And head off on a gassy journey through our digestive system in the Science Theatre live show.  

Visit Isle of Wight

It can sometimes be a challenge to find activities to keep the whole family happy during
October Half-Term. But not on the Isle of Wight! Not only does the Island offer an easy escape from your everyday routine – but there are many brilliant activities, attractions, events, and things to do during this year’s October half term holidays!

Wightlink provides an award-winning ferry service to the Isle of Wight and this October half term Kids Go Free! Make the most of spooky season and visit the UK’s most haunted Island, with loads of Halloween events going on. 

Join Tapnell Farm Park from October 7th-8th, 14th-15th, and during Half Term from 21st-31st to celebrate all things pumpkin! Enjoy exciting activities like pumpkin picking, carving, axe throwing, and more. Free entry and parking to the Pumpkin Festival, and admission to the Farm Park are sold separately.

Gather your little monsters for a ghoulishly good day out at Carisbrooke Castle this half term. Follow the trail to solve creepy clues and gather round to listen to spooky stories. 

Set sail and SAVE with Red Funnel this autumn, with 25% off ferry travel to the Isle of Wight! Valid for day trips, short or long breaks until 31st October, it’s the perfect excuse for a half-term getaway. See the Red Funnel website for details. 

Halloween Outdoor Fun

Autumn fun at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens with Pumpkin Carving, spooky bakes and Wicked Fun in the Woods with Family Bushcraft. Come and become a pumpkin spotter with the Pumpkin Spotter Challenge. How many pumpkins can you spot hidden the in the Gardens?

Prepare yourself and your little ones for a wickedly spook-tacular family evening event at the Hawk Conservancy Trust this October! At Owl-O-Ween, you can enjoy ghostly storytelling and marvel at a variety of owls as they put on two beautiful flying displays against the backdrop of their moonlit grounds.

Dying to have fun this Halloween? Visit Staunton Farm 25th-27th October for a 3 night spooktacular event. With a magic show that’s sure to delight and fright, and a creepy pumpkin carving station, there’s scares for all the family. 

This Halloween, The Flying Broom Academy opens its doors at Manor Farm for a new term (21 October 2022 to 29 October). Your spooky spellcasters can learn broomstick flying, spellcasting, herbology, and even care of magical creatures in this free activity, making Manor Farm a magical place this October.

Many years ago, plant hunters travelled the world looking for new plants to bring back to Exbury Gardens. But one voyage returned with more than just plants… A supernatural cargo of ghosts and ghouls arrived in their place, making their homes in the eerie woodlands surrounding the gardens.  Most of the time there is nothing to fear at Exbury, but at Halloween, the haunting begins! Join us on our quest to stamp out the Exbury ghosts, once and for all! 

Itchen Valley Country Park on Tuesday 31 October, for an evening of thrilling entertainment for Halloween night! Fang-tastic fire juggling, hexing hula hoop displays, melting marshmallows and a ‘thrilling’ dance workshop! Halloween Thrills and Fire show is for adults and children 7+ years. 

This Halloween at Birdworld, families are invited to get crafty with all things Pumpkins! from 21st – 29th October, there will be paper crafts such as pumpkin bunting and, for just £2, you can pick your own pumpkin from the Pumpkin Patch. Take it to the covered craft area to decorate using some fun ‘no-carve’ techniques hosted by the all-singing, all-dancing Harvest Mice. Accessible for all ages.

Trick or treat your children to an adventure as they explore the spooky self-guided Halloween Trail at River Hamble Country Park and Royal Victoria Country Park. The trail is packed full of fun frights that are sure to lift your spirits.

Get ready for spine-tingling fun at New Forest Activities This Halloween! Embark on a Spooky Halloween River Tour canoeing under the moonlight, complete with ghostly tales. Engage in BattleZone Apocalypse, for some spooky laser tag warfare. Take aim at supernatural targets in Halloween Archery Pumpkin Shooing and join the Halloween Treasure Hunt for devilishly delicious treats. Unforgettable adventures await!

Scary Shows at the Theatre

There are lots of scary shows and entertainment at the theatres this Halloween season.

On 12th October, The multi-award-winning paranormal investigation television series Most Haunted premiers its spine-chilling theatre, Most Haunted: The Stage Show at the Mayflower Theatre. On the 14th see the award-winning, smash-hit new parody musical; Stranger Sings! Strictly Come Dying an Interactive Murder Mystery Event takes place on 16th October and from 17th – 21st The new stage phenomenon that has taken the West End by storm, 2:22 A Ghost Story.

MAST Mayflower Studios is showing ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts’ (over 18’s advised on 18th October – find out the secrets of what goes on when the theatre goes dark. Buffy Revamped stakes to the stage on 2 & 3 November where the fast-paced new production brings you the entire 144 episodes of the hit 90s TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as told through the eyes of the one person who knows it inside out… Spike.

Theatre Royal Winchester For audiences of ages 12+ and following last year’s sold-out tour, on 24th and 25th October, Shock Horror is the must-see ghost story combining live performance with illusion and film that journeys into childhood nightmares and being scared of the dark!

Now you have it! All the October Half-Term & Halloween 2023 events in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to enjoy with your family and friends. For more day-out ideas, check out our things to do and our events pages. Don’t forget to download our exclusive vouchers for money off and free entry to attractions this October half term.