When Is Halloween 2026?

When is Halloween 2026?

Halloween is always on October 31, year in and year out. It sits on the eve of All Saints' Day, which is where it gets its name, and that fixed spot on the calendar means you can start planning the moment the days get shorter and the leaves begin to turn.

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What day of the week is Halloween this year?

In 2026 the 31st falls on the weekday shown in Saturday, October 31, 2026 above. If it lands midweek, lots of people shift the parties to the nearest Friday or Saturday, while the trick-or-treating itself usually stays on the 31st, since that's when the neighbors are expecting little visitors at the door.

October 31 also opens a three-day stretch the church calls Allhallowtide: All Hallows' Eve on the 31st, All Saints' Day on November 1, and All Souls' Day on November 2. Those same early November days are when families across Mexico and Latin America celebrate the Day of the Dead, honoring loved ones with flowers, candles and offerings. Different traditions, all tied to the same turn of the season.

The origins of Halloween

Halloween has roots stretching back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the start of the dark half of the year. The Celts believed that on this night the boundary between the living and the dead grew thin, so it was a time of bonfires, storytelling and a healthy respect for whatever might be wandering about.

Later this became woven into the Christian calendar. The evening before All Saints' Day was known as "All Hallows' Eve", and over time that name was worn down to the Halloween we use today. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried the customs across the Atlantic in the 1800s. The carved pumpkin came with them: the original "jack-o'-lanterns" were hollowed-out turnips, tied to the Irish tale of Stingy Jack, a trickster doomed to wander with only a glowing ember for light. Settlers found pumpkins far easier to carve, and the rest is history.

How Halloween is celebrated in the US

Halloween is one of the biggest nights on the American calendar, second only to Christmas when it comes to decorating. Whole streets light up with carved jack-o'-lanterns, cobwebs across the porch and front yards turned into mini graveyards, often weeks in advance.

Trick-or-treating is the heart of it for the kids, and it goes back further than you might think, growing out of "souling" and "guising", old customs where people went house to house offering songs or prayers in exchange for food. Today a porch light on usually means a household is happy to welcome visitors, while a dark house is best left in peace. The rounds run from dusk until 8 or 9pm, with buckets filling up with candy along the way. For the grown-ups, it's often pumpkin carving, a game of apple bobbing, a horror movie with the lights down, or a costume party.

Getting costume-ready for Halloween

It's the costume that really makes Halloween. Some go for the classic spooky route with ghosts, witches and vampires, while others prefer something funny that gets a laugh rather than a scream. Both work great, whether you want the whole family to match or one person to stand out. Have a browse through our Halloween costumes if you need a nudge of inspiration for this year's outfit.

If you'd rather be cozy than creepy, a snug night in works too. A HappyHoodie, our giant super-soft oversized hoodie that's basically a blanket you can wear, is just the thing for curling up with a scary movie while the wind rattles the windows. Now you know exactly when Halloween falls and how many days you've got left, so all that's left is to sort the costume and get the cauldron bubbling.