4 Spooky & Fun Ways to Get Your Boo On
Costumes. Cocktails. Cemeteries. A haunted bookstore. Because the kids shouldn’t get all the good stuff.
From haunted bookstores and cemetery walks to murder mysteries, costumes and cocktails, these Montclair Halloween happenings are strictly for the grown-ups.
4 Montclair experiences meant to rattle your bones—and maybe your brain
Somewhere along the way, Halloween became all about miniature candy bars, school parades and trying to convince a five-year-old that yes, they really do need a coat over the costume.
We think the grown-ups deserve a little Halloween, too.
And Montclair has options.
Wander through a cemetery. Step inside a bookstore transformed by childhood nightmares. Solve a murder. Pull together a costume and stay out past your bedtime. Or, if your tolerance for terror ends somewhere around slightly spooky, pour a glass of wine and paint Van Gogh.
Here are four Halloween experiences we think are worth leaving the candy bowl unattended for.
1. Enter the Haunted Funhouse at Montclair Book Center
Books are usually supposed to expand your imagination. This time, that may not be a good thing.
Montclair Book Center transforms itself for its fourth annual Haunted Funhouse, and this year's theme is Childhood Nightmares—complete with new characters, new rooms and plenty of reasons to reconsider what might be hiding between the stacks.
The adult haunt takes place October 23 and 24 from 7–11:30 PM. The walk-through itself lasts about ten minutes.
Ten minutes doesn't sound very long.
Unless you're being chased through a bookstore.
Montclair Book Center
221 Glenridge Avenue
October 23 & 24 | Adult Shows
Tickets: $10 in advance before October; $15 thereafter
2. Costumes, Cocktails & a Dance Floor
Who says you need to wait until Halloween night?
All My Friends is taking over the upstairs at Porta Montclair for a Halloween Eve Dance Party—and this one sounds made for grown-ups who still appreciate a good costume but don't necessarily want to be out until 2 AM.
Resident DJs DJ Dirty Preston and DJ Clean Erica will mix current pop with old-school indie and rock, with a curated bar, pizza available to order and, naturally, costumes encouraged.
The best part? It starts at 7 and wraps at 11.
You'll get your Halloween dance party—and still be reasonably functional the next morning.
Halloween Eve Dance Party | All My Friends
Upstairs at Porta Montclair
499 Bloomfield Avenue
Friday, October 30 | 7–11 PM
Tickets: $20
Costumes encouraged
PerchedIN note: Tricks, treats, cocktails and dancing—with a bedtime. Now that's a grown-up Halloween.
Scream & Shout at Porta
Visit Porta in Montclair for the Halloween Dance Party of your dreams. Costumes encouraged! Tricks & treats for all!
3. Walk Among the Residents of Rosedale Cemetery
No actors. No fake cobwebs. No strategically placed skeletons required.
The Montclair History Center's Rosedale Cemetery Carriage Route Tour takes you through the historic cemetery while uncovering the stories of some of the very real people buried there.
The approximately two-mile walk follows old carriage routes and explores historic gravestone art, Victorian-era cradle graves, a trailblazing woman doctor, a suffrage leader who survived a catastrophic earthquake in Sicily, the unexpected New Jersey connection to Stetson—and even the mystery of a pond that has disappeared.
It's history, storytelling and just enough we are literally walking through a cemetery in October to make things interesting.
Rosedale Cemetery
408 Orange Road
Sunday, October 25 | 1:30–3:30 PM
$20 | $15 for Montclair History Center members
Advance registration required
4. For the Less Brave: A Starry Night With a Halloween Twist
Maybe cemeteries aren't your thing.
Perhaps haunted bookstores aren't either.
We respect that.
At Pinot's Palette Montclair, Halloween night offers a considerably less terrifying alternative: Van Gogh's Starry Night — Halloween.
You paint. You sip. You go home with your own version of a masterpiece. Most importantly, nothing is supposed to jump out at you.
The Montclair studio is BYOB, so bring your wine of choice and consider this Halloween for people who prefer their spirits in a glass.
Pinot's Palette Montclair
351 Bloomfield Avenue
Saturday, October 31 | 8–10 PM
$40 per person
Create your own fun twist on Van Gogh's Starry Night - No experience needed!
Doors open at 7:30 PM and painting will begin promptly at 8:00 PM!
Pick Your Poison
Costumes. Childhood nightmares. Cemetery stories. Or a paintbrush and a bottle of wine.
Halloween around Montclair isn't just for the kids and trick-or-treat crowd.
And whether you want to be scared, challenged, entertained—or simply Halloween-adjacent with a decent Cabernet—there's still plenty of October left to get into a little trouble.
Take a closer look. Things get interesting after dark.