Celebrate Halloween 2026 with the best Trunk or Treat events in Dayton. Discover family-friendly Halloween celebrations featuring decorated cars, candy giveaways, costume contests, games, community gatherings, and safe trick-or-treat experiences for children. Whether you're planning a fun family outing or looking for Halloween events near you, explore the top Trunk or Treat events happening across Dayton.
Listings updated
Curated by the AllEvents team, for you.
Sat, Oct 243035 Wilmington Pike
It's time for your favorite Trunk or Treat event! Everyone is welcome to join in the fun. Sign up to host a car. It's easy...click the link and add your name to the list. Show up to We Care Arts' parking lot on October 24th and decorate your car. Then, ha
Sat, Oct 242400 Albrecht Ave
Get ready for a fun afternoon the whole family can enjoy at Fearless Church’s Trunk or Treat! Come dressed up, bring a candy bucket, and make your way through creatively decorated trunks filled with treats. We’ll also have a bounce house, free hot dogs
Trunk contestGames & bounce houses
Sat, Oct 24960 W Dorothy Ln
Please join us on Saturday, October 24th from 5pm - 7pm for the 3rd Annual Trunk or Treat! Come for the free hotdogs, snacks, candy! Stay for the photobooth, music, and activities! Date: Saturday, October 24th Time: 5pm - 7pm Location: 960 W Dorothy L
Sat, Oct 247031 N. Main St.
🍂 HARVEST FESTIVAL 2026! 🎃 Join us at Dayton First Church of the Nazarene on Saturday, October 24 at 6:00 PM for a fun-filled evening for the whole family! Come enjoy: 🍬 Trunk-or-Treat 🌭 Food 🎯 Games 🚜 Hay Rides 🍭 Candy 🤝 Fellowship 🎉 And more! Bring y
HayrideGames & bounce houses
Tue, Oct 27Northridge High School Stadium, Dayton, Ohio
For The Love of Northridge Is excited to bring you some Polar Bear 🐻❄️ Halloween 🎃 fun! But we Can't do it without you! Parents Bring your trick or treaters up to enjoy a fun safe night When: Tues. Oct 27th Where: Northridge High School Football
Fri, Oct 30811 S Gettysburg Ave
Join us Oct. 30 from 4–6 PM for FREE Trunk-or-Treat fun at Gettysburg Grocery! Costumes, candy & Halloween fun for all! Get ready for a spooktacular afternoon at Gettysburg Grocery!</str
Free
Sat, Oct 314308 Springfield st
Bring the kids by Jonny D’s for a fun start to Halloween night! 🕔 Trunk or Treat: 4:00–6:00 PM 📍 Jonny D’s – 4308 Springfield St., Riverside, OH We’re holding our Trunk or Treat an hour before regular Trick-or-Treat begins, giving families time to stop
Everything to decorate your trunk, fill the candy bowl and dress the kids — from monster-mouth kits and string lights to bulk Halloween candy and costumes. Check delivery dates before you order.
Links go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, AllEvents earns from qualifying purchases.
Trunk decoration kitMonster mouth, teeth and googly eyesShop on Amazon 
Orange string lightsBattery-powered, no outlet neededShop on Amazon 
Stretchy cobwebsSpiders included, for every cornerShop on Amazon 
Light-up jack-o'-lanternsLED, safe around kidsShop on Amazon 
Bulk candy variety packIndividually wrapped, enough for a lineShop on Amazon 
Glow-stick braceletsA candy-free treat that lights them upShop on Amazon 
Teal pumpkin bucketNon-food treats for kids with allergiesShop on Amazon 
Jack-o'-lantern bucketThe classic, for collectingShop on Amazon 
Dinosaur costumePlush and hooded, warm for an evening outShop on Amazon 
Cauldron candy bowlFor the front edge of the trunkShop on Amazon 
Witch hatSoft and floppy, for little headsShop on Amazon 12 of the best places to eat, explore and enjoy fall in Dayton, Ohio, before and after trunk or treat — from restaurants and sweet shops to museums, parks and pumpkin patches.
Nine locations around Dayton
Thin crust, cut in squares: Marion Glass opened the first on Patterson Road in 1965, and this is the pizza Dayton calls its own.
Big tables and no fuss — the easy dinner for a crew still in costume.
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Centerville · 268 N Main St
Open 24 hours, and named one of America's best donut shops by Saveur.
The stop on the drive home. Get the sour cream old-fashioned.
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Oakwood · Washington Twp · Springboro
A fruit stand in 1948, now Dayton's favourite grocer — and the home of the Killer Brownie.
Take a box for the grown-ups handing out candy. They earn it.
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Wayne Avenue · 1709 Wayne Ave
Dayton's chocolatier since 1926, still made in the house on Wayne Avenue where Esther Price began.
In the fall it does chocolate-covered apples and Halloween boxes: the best bowl in the car park.
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Yellow Springs · 6880 Springfield-Xenia Rd
A family farm since 1869, with a 3.5-acre corn maze, pick-your-own pumpkins and ice cream made on site.
Finish the maze with a pumpkin ice cream; the farm mini golf fills the rest of the afternoon.
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Grafton Hill · 500 Belmonte Park N
Nearly 1,000 hand-carved jack-o'-lanterns on one hillside, a tradition since 1994 that began with 50.
It lights up on a few evenings in late October — go after dark, and check the dates first.
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Wright-Patterson AFB · 1100 Spaatz St
The world's largest military aviation museum: more than 360 aircraft across 19 acres indoors.
Free entry and parking — and its Troops & Treats trick-or-treat among the planes is a Halloween favourite.
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North Dayton · 2600 DeWeese Pkwy
A science museum with a planetarium and an indoor zoo of about a hundred animals — otters, meerkats, a bobcat.
The rainy-day plan if the weather turns: indoors, hands-on, and built for small kids.
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South of downtown · S Patterson Blvd
Sixty-five acres of Dayton history, home of the 1905 Wright Flyer III — the world's first practical airplane.
Eat at Carillon Brewing Co., the only production brewery inside an American museum, cooking 1850s recipes.
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Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
The bicycle shop where Orville and Wilbur Wright first got serious about flying, now a National Park site.
Free, with park rangers to tell the story. Pair it with Carillon Park for a Wright brothers morning.
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Grafton Hill · Belmonte Park N
A hilltop museum that runs all-ages Spooky Tours of haunting legends and symbols in October.
Make an evening of it: the Pumpkin Glow is just along the street.
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Springboro Pike · 6733 N Springboro Pike
Climb the 65-foot Tree Tower above the oaks and maples, then get lost in the children's hedge maze.
Go in late October, when the leaves are at their best from the top of the tower.
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Thu, Oct 15Coffman Park, Dublin
Fri, Oct 16Goldfish Swim School - Kenwood, Cincinnati
Free
Sat, Oct 17Hunter Park, Franklin
Tue, Oct 20Sharon Woods Park Visitor's Center Entrance, Sharonville
Fri, Oct 236880 Springfield-Xenia Rd, Yellow Springs
Wed, Oct 2810400 Innovation Drive, Miamisburg
What kids are wearing this year, and how to dress for an evening in a car park.
SuperheroSpider-Man topped the list for kids: 2.3 million of them.
PrincessA classic that never leaves the top five.
WitchThe hat does most of the work. Add a broom for the photos.
GhostOne sheet, two eye holes, done in ten minutes.
Pop-star demon hunterThis year's breakout, thanks to KPop Demon Hunters.DinosaurPlush and hooded: the warmest costume in the car park.Costume rankings: National Retail Federation, 2025 Halloween survey.
Since the 1990s
Churches started it. Parents wanted a Halloween with less gore, fewer strangers and no crossing busy roads in the dark, so congregations parked in a circle, opened their boots and handed out candy from the back. In car-dependent suburbs it simply worked better than a street of houses far apart — and a flat car park suits children with allergies, wheelchairs and strollers too.
Trunk or treat events in Dayton run from Oct 13 to Oct 31, 2026: 10 events. The busiest weekend is Oct 23 – Oct 25, with 6 events.
Nothing is listed in Dayton itself for Oct 16 – Oct 18, but 3 events are on nearby, in Cincinnati, Franklin and Mason.
Yes: 1 of the 10 listed is free, including GG's Trunk-Or-Treat. Most trunk or treats are free to walk into.
Yes: 9 more events are listed within reach of Dayton, in Dublin, Cincinnati, Franklin and Mason and more. The soonest is Dublin’s Halloween Spooktacular in Dublin, on Thu, Oct 15.
At 10 venues, including Scene75, North Main-Clayton Animal Hospital and Northridge High School Stadium, Dayton, Ohio. Most take place in the car park of a church, school, library or community centre.
The most popular on AllEvents right now are Trunk or Treat at Kettering Heights (Tue, Oct 13), Trunk or Treat at Scene75 Dayton! (Wed, Oct 21) and NMAC Trunk or Treat at North Main-Clayton Animal Hospital (Sat, Oct 24).
Start times run from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Most begin around dusk, so the decorated trunks are lit when the children arrive, and last two or three hours.
A Halloween event where children go from car to car instead of door to door. Families park in one place — usually a church, school or community car park — open their boots, decorate them, and hand out candy from the back. It began at American churches in the 1990s as a safer, more contained alternative to trick-or-treating, and most now add a costume parade, games or a best-decorated-trunk contest.
Their costume, a treat bucket or bag, and something that glows — a glow stick or a small torch — because most events run after dark. Comfortable shoes help: a big car park is a lot of walking.
Pick a theme and fill the open boot with it. Monster mouths, pumpkin patches, haunted houses, outer space and under the sea are the favourites. Battery string lights matter most, since a car park has no sockets; then a backdrop, cobwebs or props, and a bowl of candy at the front edge.
Many are. Look for a teal pumpkin: it is the sign of a trunk handing out non-food treats such as glow sticks, stickers and small toys, part of the Teal Pumpkin Project for children with food allergies.
