Halloween falls on a Friday this year, but there are plenty of ways you can enjoy the holiday before or after October 31. Here’s thirteen ideas that will help you have a Terrifying Thursday, a Scary Saturday, a Spooky Sunday, or…you get the idea.

Get freaky at Fright Nights
The crew out at Walibi Holland found themselves in the middle of a nightmare themselves in August when their ad campaign for this year’s Fright Nights courted too much controversy.

Like many characters in a horror movie, it was sent to an early grave. The revised theme for the 2025 edition of the long-running event is ‘Souls For Sale’ and it features another batch of haunted houses, walkthroughs, and ‘extreme experiences.’ The highlight this time around is ‘Us vs. You,’ which plunges attendees into the middle of a ghoulish game show.

For younger Halloween fans, there’s also Spooky Days, a much more kid-friendly and tamer version that takes place during daylight hours. Both events continue from now and through the Halloween weekend

But what’s the UPside?
Nothing will be as it seems at ‘The Night Signal: Into the UPside,’ an immersive walkthrough experience that will take place in the Tuinen van West in Amsterdam over Halloween weekend.

Inspired by Stranger Things, it will transport attendees straight into a mystery concerning a group of students who went missing back in 1987 while recording a radio show. Those brave enough to dive into this should expect an ‘experience’ along the lines of similar ones over at Fright Nights, but lengthier. The whole thing lasts about 30 minutes.

Check out the terrors in Toverland and Efteling
Toverland, a theme park east of Eindhoven, also has a Halloween celebration full of plenty of frights. This year, over the course of thirteen nights, it’s hosting six ‘haunted experiences’ and six ‘scare zones.’ The all new ‘Unmasked: Waltzthrough’ will plunge visitors straight into an elegant ball unfortunately hosted by a group of bloodthirsty vampires.

The Efteling isn’t hosting special Halloween event this year, but it did recently debut Danse Macabre, one of the most ambitious theme park attractions in Europe. Along with plenty of ghostly effects, it has an elaborate backstory about an orchestra that went missing during a performance on a Friday the 13th back in 1876.

Help Rocky Horror celebrate its 50th anniversary
Late night screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show have been helping independent cinemas around the world stay afloat since it was first released half a century ago.

If you’ve never seen the film with an audience, Halloween and its 50th anniversary are two good excuses to finally give it a go. It’s an experience you’re unlikely to forget, especially if the crowd comes equipped with costumes, props, and snarky remarks to fling back at the screen.

Check out the planned screenings for the days ahead over at Rocky Horror NL. Lab 111 in Amsterdam will also be hosting two interactive ‘Sing-Along’ ones next month.

Further cinematic creepiness
Jan Doense, AKA ‘Mr Horror,’ is back at it this year. The 16th edition of his Halloween Horror Show is storming into cinemas in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Groningen on 31 October and 1 November. The lineup for this year’s overnight movie marathon includes Good Boy, an indie horror that focuses on a dog helping his owner fight supernatural forces.

The unique spin has helped it earn rave reviews in America. There’s also plenty of other scary movies on the slate over at the Imagine Film Festival, which will take place in Amsterdam from October 30 through to November 9

The whole pumpkin thing
Carving pumpkins have become increasingly plentiful in recent years here in the Netherlands. Many supermarkets now offer them, as well as weekly markets and garden centres. There are a few pumpkin farms around the country for those looking to get out of town for an afternoon, too.

Those willing to make the journey should check each farm’s website before hitting the road to make sure they still have plenty in stock. De Pompoenwinkel in Zeeland has a great assortment. Further north, there’s Pompoenen Ter Aar and Pompoenerie Wezep.

Dance the night away in Amsterdam
Music venues and clubs in the nation’s capital are sure to be packed over Halloween weekend with various freaky fiestas. Here’s just a few. Amsterdam Halloween’s 16th annual dance-a-thon is going down the rabbit hole with Alice in Horrorland on 1 November over at Westerunie in Westerpark.

Melkweg is hosting a Halloween edition of Pon Di Pride on the 31st and Festa da Fantasia, a Brazilian-themed spin on the holiday the following night. Over at Paradiso, Indiesleaze Halloween Night kicks off at 23:30 in its main hall on the 31st. 3xNYX is turning into a HalloQueen dungeon on the 1st and Jimmy Woo’s is hosting two Halloween: Heaven or Hell events that weekend.

Enjoy a scary or not so scary symphony
Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw is hosting two Halloween concerts this year. The first on October 24 is the kid-friendly ‘De Herriemakers.’ It’s geared toward wee ones and features lots of humour and the narration will be in Dutch.

There’s also ‘Halloween Classics at the Movies’ on the 28th. Conductor Sander Teepen will lead the Aachen Symphony Orchestra on a whirlwind trek through songs from The Sixth Sense, Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, and more.

Family friendly frights
Novotel Rotterdam Brainpark is hosting its second annual Halloween event on the 30th and 31st. There will be trick-or-treating, creative workshops, and a screening of Dolfje Weerwolfje. It kicks off each afternoon at 16:00.

A murder mystery
Families with older and/or bolder kids might want to head to the Amsterdam Dungeon where the popular tourist attraction is celebrating its twentieth Halloween.

The crew are promising plenty of jump scares along with an all new murder mystery spectacle on the 23rd and 30th, but the latter is entirely in English and geared toward more mature audiences. What will happen during the hoity-toity Rathwell family’s Halloween masquerade ball? To find out, be sure to book your tickets ahead of time.

Hitch up your boots
At previous Halloweens, Boom Chicago in Amsterdam has hosted comedy shows and Hocus Pocus-themed drag performances. This time around, they’re unveiling a Halloween night edition of Boom Gone Country, their monthly country dance event.

Grab a pair of cowboy boots, your favourite oversized belt buckle, and a bolo tie, but don’t worry about the rest. Makeup artists will be on hand to turn the crowd into country-fried zombies. Along with comedy and magic performances, attendees will also get the opportunity to line dance to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and other Halloween hits.

Elsewhere around the country
There are other dance events and family-friendly Halloween gatherings all across the country. To find out what’s happening in your neck of the woods, check Eventbrite. Its listings include the Delft MaMa Annual Halloween Party on the 25th and the Halloween Theater Spectacle at CKE, Culture & Art in Eindhoven on the 31st.

Scream your way through November
The ghouls in Brabant apparently have a busy Halloween planned, so they’re delaying their festival of horrors until mid November. They’ll be raising hell for three straight weekends beginning on Friday, 14 November at the Maple Farm south of the town of Bosschenhoofd.

This year’s edition of The Horror Zone has been dubbed ‘Fields of Blood’ and visitors will get to explore the mysteries of Huckabay, a small town in Texas with a very dark history.