Wicklow County Council has launched Samhain Wicklow, a county-wide Halloween festival that runs for all of October. It covers pumpkin patches, spooky walks, face painting, costume swaps and Halloween camps, most of them run by local businesses and community groups. A lot of it is packed into the last full week of October, around the bank holiday Monday on 26 October and the school mid-term break.
Visit Wicklow has the full programme, and an interactive map, in its Samhain Wicklow section. Here are the events still to come that are closest to us.
Near Wicklow Town
- Samhain candle-making, The Wild Glen, Glenealy. Saturday 24 October, 7.30pm–9pm. An adult workshop where you pour your own candle, with seasonal refreshments while it sets. All materials are provided. Details
- Clissmann Pumpkin Patch, Cronybyrne, Rathdrum. Today (17 October), 18 October, then every day from 24 to 31 October. Donkey or wheelbarrow tours, a spooky farm trail and a pumpkin to bring home. Tickets only, and you have to book in advance. Book here
- Whispers in the Woods, Beyond the Trees Avondale, Rathdrum. 17–31 October. A Halloween treasure trail on the Treetop Walk: find all ten hidden objects to win a prize. From 24 October there's also a combo ticket with a "Spooktacular" train ride. Events page
- Spooky Science camp, Avondale. Sunday 25 October, 10am–2pm, ages 5–11, run by Junior Einstein's Science Club.
A bit further up the coast
- Glenroe Farm, Kilcoole. Saturday 24 to Monday 26 October, 10am–5pm (last admission 4pm). Pick your own pumpkin, plus a zombie maize maze and a haunted cottage.
- K2Alpacas Pumpkin Patch, Newtownmountkennedy. 18 October and 24–28 October. Ghost walk, skeleton tunnel and thousands of pumpkins. Ticket money goes to the Down Syndrome Centre.
- Halloween afternoon in Mount Kennedy Woods. Bank holiday Monday 26 October, 3.30pm, at the Season Park entrance. A community event run by Newtownmountkennedy Tidy Towns.
- Halloween teen disco, Foresters Hall, Kilcoole. Friday 23 October, 8pm–10.30pm. A supervised "Haunted Carnival" night for 2nd-year students.
- Greystones camps, 26–30 October. Spooky Science (9am–1pm, ages 5–11) at St Patrick's Church Hall, and CROÍ Art & Craft (10am–1.30pm, ages 6–12) at the Presbyterian Church on Trafalgar Road.
Down to Arklow
- Arklow Town Team Halloween Festival. Friday 30 October, 5pm–7pm, Abbey Lane. Free and no booking needed. A disco, pumpkin decorating, face painting, crafts, messy play and prizes for the best costume. It moves behind the Royal Hotel if the weather is bad.
- Costume swap, Arklow Library. Until 28 October. Bring in last year's costume and swap it for a different one for free.
Further afield, there are pumpkin patches at Russborough House (until 25 October) and Killruddery in Bray (24–26 October), a Halloween-night hike through Ballinastoe Woods near Roundwood, and a Samhain tree weekend at Powerscourt on 31 October and 1 November.
What this means for you
If you have kids off school for the mid-term, there's plenty within half an hour of the estate. The pumpkin patches and camps are the ones most likely to sell out, so book those early. The council's release doesn't list prices, so check each event's own page before you go.
Source: Wicklow County Council and Visit Wicklow's Halloween listings. Details can change, so check with the organiser before you go.