The one night a year when it’s socially acceptable to dress like a complete and utter weirdo. Yes, it’s Halloween time, and seriously, people take advantage of that! Or, as adults like to call it, “embracing your inner creativity.” Whatever floats your ghost ship, right? From the mundane characters to the downright disturbing, there’s a costume of everything for everyone! We’ve scratched layers to find the most outrageous, over-the-top Halloween celebrations around the world known to man (or monster). These parades will make you feel simultaneously terrified and incredibly jealous, and nothing in between! Costumes are a must because being normal on Halloween is quite abnormal!
1) New York’s 52nd Annual Village Halloween Parade
New York is best at everything, so it’s truly not shocking for me (or you!) to hear that it arranges the most widely creative public participatory event in the world! In simple words, New York’s 52nd Annual Village Halloween Parade will be insanely huge this year! Started back in 1974, it has become the largest annual Halloween party. So when I tell you over 100,000 people participate and millions watch the parade, it won’t shock you! Musicians, dancers, artists, and incredible large-scale puppets are just a teaser of this best Halloween celebration in the USA!
Parade Route: The Parade runs straight up 6th Ave from KING St to West 15th.
31st October 2025
6th Avenue between Canal Street and 16th Street, New York, United States
Millions of people
2) Derry’s Halloween Street Carnival Parade
WOW is all you will be able to utter in disbelief when you visit Derry’s Halloween Street Carnival Parade, Europe’s largest Halloween Festival! This Walled City opens the doors to welcome the spirit of Samhain every year with a dazzling street celebration! Four nights in Derry becomes a home for Halloween, where you can see spooky stuff and learn about folklore, history, and heritage that makes this city special. If you want to catch the parade and fireworks (which you should) at one of the most spooky Halloween celebrations in the UK, it will be on the last day, i.e., Halloween!
Parade Route: The parade starts from Boating Club Lane and moves ahead towards Strand Rd. It maintains its straight route towards Embankment, takes a U-turn from the end, and goes towards Queen’s Quay, where the parade concludes!
28th to 31st October 2025
BT48 7NN, Strand Rd, Derry, Londonderry, United Kingdom
Almost 100,000 people
3) West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval
The sparkle that LA brings even to a festival like Halloween is unbelievable! In the darkest and most spooky time, LA celebrates the most colorful Halloween celebrations in the world. West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval has a contagious excitement that spreads so wildly that more than 5,00,000 people participate in the Carnaval every year! Colorful and wildly dressed people in costumes, live entertainment, dancers, performers, and food trucks make this carnival a one-of-a-kind experience in your life! Why not spook people with sparkles this Halloween in Los Angeles?
Parade Route: Halloween Carnaval is free to attend and will take place on Thursday, October 31, 2025, on a one-mile stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard between N. Doheny Drive and N. La Cienega Boulevard.
31st October 2025
Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, Hollywood, United States
4) Krewe of Boo! New Orleans Halloween Parade
Assuming that every festival will have an over-the-top parade in New Orleans is our habit now! Krewe of Boo! The New Orleans Halloween Parade began in 2007 and was led by the son of “Mr. Mardi Gras” son. The son keeps the legacy of making excellent 3-dimensional fiberglass and paper-mâché floats (the city is well known for this), and the parade seems unreal and imaginative! With 450 riders, 15 floats, 35 marching bands, and dance krewes, the weekend is full of events! The French Quarter has become a beautiful place to see the spooky excitement of Halloween days!
Parade Route: Here are the exact directions for you!
- Assemble at Elysian Fields Avenue
- Parade Down Elysian Fields Avenue to North Peters Street
- North Peters Street to Decatur Street
- Decatur Street past Jackson Square to North Peters Street
- North Peters Street to Canal Street
- Up Canal to Burgundy, then U-turn
- Down Canal Street to Tchoupitoulas Street
- Tchoupitoulas Street to Andrew Higgins Drive
25th October 2025
New Orleans, LA, United States
Tens of thousands of people
5) The Spirit of Halloweentown
Hidden in the town of St. Helens, Halloween has a huge celebration that ain’t limited to just one day! The most family-friendly, spookiest celebration award goes to The Spirit of Halloweentown. Every weekend in October, people lead you to go and celebrate Halloween. The local merchants tempt you to buy scary (or absolutely funny) fits from costume shops, ghost talks, tarot card readings, face paintings, trick-or-treating throughout the haunted town tours, contents, and whatnot!
September 27th to October 31st 2025
275 Strand St, Saint Helens, United States
6) 28th Annual Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade
Chicago sweeps in and saves Halloween with its 28th Annual Haunted Halsted Halloween Parade! Wear weird, wild, weary, or whatever you think is spooky, so clearly, you should go costume shopping first! This free-to-watch parade is one of the top ten in the US by Fodor’s Travel, and there is a very serious Costume Contest with hundreds of entrants! There will be an award ceremony, too, so as we said, it is very SERIOUS!
Parade Route: Starts at Halsted & Belmont and ends at Halsted & Brompton
October 31st 2025
Northalsted, Northalsted, Chicago, IL, USA, United States
7) Tokyo Disney Resort Halloween
The princess world is here with the spookiest festival of the year, which makes it amazingly cute for kids! The Tokyo Disney Resort Halloween is back with iconic flats decked with cobwebs and pumpkins steered by characters dressed in ghost costumes! Yes, it is Halloween, and October will be ruled by it. The “Spooky Boo!” parade (even the name is cute!) is the highlight of the celebration every year! Dream Garlands with a Halloween theme will be part of this year’s Halloween decorations, blended with the Tokyo Disney Resort’s 40th anniversary décor. So, double celebrations!!
Parade Route: The parade will start in Fantasyland, then stop in the Plaza, and again, in the Tomorrowland and Toontown areas of the parade route.
September 17th to October 31st 2025
Disneyland, Tokyo, Japan
8) The Salem Witches’ Magic Circle
The Halloween ritual of Salem is quite vivid and unique in the world! On Christian Day and Brian Cain, Dragon Ritual Drummers perform a drumming show as witches from around the globe come together for a sacred and magical ritual! The Salem Witches’ Magic Circle is a free and open-to-all event that does not restrict the number of participants as soon as you wish to feel connected to those far away from the realm. The ceremony honors the people who have crossed over into the spirit world!
October 31st 2025
North Washington Square, Salem, United States
9) Amsterdam Halloween Festival
So, you think you’re tough, huh? Why not face the apocalypse at the Amsterdam’s Halloween Festival, where injuries are all you will see? Ghosts and goblins are so last year. This year, trade in your broomstick for fangs and radiation burns! The theme is “Nuclear Survival.” (not kidding!) It’s time to dress as you have just resurrected from a disaster. If you show up in a cute little witch costume, you’re basically asking to be the first one turned into a glowing green mutant. Let this Halloween be a little too out of the box!
October 26th 2025
Amsterdam Events, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands
10) Toronto Halloween on Church
What fun are the clubs when the streets turn into a wicked party on Halloween? The Toronto Halloween on Church is the biggest Halloween block party, making the streets go insane. Church Street’s six blocks are transformed into a life-like Halloween experience, and hundreds of people dress up in costumes and grab their precious spots! Around the best Halloween celebrations in Canada, the cafes and bars are open all night long, so don’t worry, you ain’t having fun hungry (or not drunk!)
Parade Route: Wood Street to Gloucester Street
October 31st 2025
The Village, Toronto, Canada
11) 8th Annual Broadway Halloween Parade
The one and only parade in Denver is the beloved way to celebrate Halloween in a family-friendly way! The 8th Annual Broadway Halloween Parade is here, roaring in the streets with fun and spooky things to do! Watch the spooky floats, marching bands, musicians, and community groups! You can watch the parade along the entire route, and it will be more fun if all of you are also in costume! Kids can also do trick-or-treating!
Parade Route: The parade runs along Broadway for approximately .9 miles from 5th to Alameda.
October 18tt 2025
600 Broadway, Denver, Colorado, United States
12) Los Angeles Haunted Hayride
Daredevil in you is surely up for a Halloween experience that’s as thrilling as it is spooky. Well then, the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride is your answer! You’re clinging to your seat on a pitch-black trail, your heart racing, and eerie scenes unfold around you; oh, that’s just the beginning! This year’s event is scarier than ever, with new themes still trembling even the bravest souls. After surviving the haunted hayride, explore Midnight Falls, a ghostly village where twisted carnival rides and creepy shops come alive, or test your courage in the (S)Laughterhouse maze, where only the bold dare to enter. And for those who need a halt, the Dead End Diner offers spooky-themed snacks in a haunted setting.
September 19th to October 31st 2025
Crystal Springs, United States
13) Lancaster Halloween Parade
A subtle, peaceful, and not the scariest parade in the world is the Lanchester Halloween Parade, where everything is more friendly than scary.🫂 It is the perfect parade for families to just have a fun time. This annual parade features beautiful floats, marching bands, and costume characters down the main street, where thousands of attendees come together! Basically, if you get scared on Halloween days, this parade is the ideal one for you! Plus, you get free candy!
October 26th, 2025
650 N Prince St, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
14) 11th Annual Arts in the Dark Halloween Parade
A parade that gives artists a touch in Halloween celebrations and surrounds you with wholesomeness is the 11th Annual Arts in the Dark Halloween Parade! The progressive units of Chicago, like Chicago cultural organizations, youth programs, and aspiring artists, all come together for a parade full of creative performances and, of course, unique floats and puppets! Halloween becomes a cultural representation of the city where every talent flourishes!
Parade Route: State Street moving south from Lake to Van Buren.
October 18th, 2025
State Street, State St, United States, Chicago
15) Gettysburg Halloween Parade
Creativity is at its full force at the Gettysburg Halloween Parade every year, where costumes and floats are the most unique of all Halloween Parades. The vehicles are decorated with cute Legos or spooky ghosts, and everything in between! The spooky-themed performances and marching band add to the scary Halloween vibe, which eventually attracts thousands of visitors to Gettysburg every year.
Parade Route: The parade will begin at Gettysburg Middle School and Lincoln Elementary. The official kick-off time is approximately 7:15 PM. The parade route will proceed down York Street onto Lincoln Square, where judging will occur at the HD Entertainment grandstand. From there, it will continue down Baltimore Street before turning onto Lefever Street and ending in the staging area.
October 21st, 2025
Lincoln Square, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States
16) 77th Annual Hershey Halloween Parade
One of the most heart-touching traditions is the 77th Annual Hershey Halloween Parade. This old and vintage Halloween celebration features a charming parade of marching bands, floats, and characters dressed in insane costumes. Since 1946, the parade has been a highlight in the community and, not surprisingly, attended by tens of thousands of spectators annually. You can’t ignore this Halloween Parade. Why, you ask? Only because such an enchanted and spooky combination is impossible to find anywhere else.
September 12th to 2nd November, 2025
605 Cocoa Ave, Hershey, PA 17033, United States
17) 46th Annual Halloween Parade & Trick or Treat Street
What kind of Halloween would it be if you were restricted to being in the parade itself, right? Well, don’t worry. The 46th Annual Halloween Parade & Trick or Treat Street lets you be a part of the parade regardless of your age or any restrictions. Make your costumes extraordinary to shine there. Once it is over, kids can head over to trick and treating street!🍭 Both the locations are different; please don’t get confused, people!
Parade Route: Historically, the Longmont Halloween Parade happens on the Saturday before Halloween. This year’s parade will start on Longs Peak Ave. Head east to Main St. South to 3rd Ave., then turnaround head back north on Main St. to Longs Peak Ave.
October 25th, 2025
Longmont, United States
