Halloween Night in Denver 2026: What’s Actually Open on October 31

By the Kevin Larson Presents team · We produce Paranormal Palace, one of the events on this page. Everything else is listed anyway, with links, because you deserve the whole picture.

Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday — the first Saturday Halloween since 2020, and the last until 2037. That means every event in the metro is running head-to-head on one night instead of spreading across a weekend, and the good ones will sell out earlier than people expect. Here is everything happening on the night of October 31 — organized by where it is, because on a Saturday Halloween, geography decides how your night ends.

Updated October 18: DarknessCon’s ticket page now lists Denver for Oct 31 at the Castle Event Center in Northglenn, with convention passes from $15 and an 18+ Zombie Prom after-party, so it’s back in the table with hours and prices. Coloween’s $79 tier has sold out and its site now lists $89 all-in. Tracks still hasn’t opened ticket sales. And on our own event: the hotel has sold out entirely, balcony and standard rooms both, about 5% of tickets remain, and VIP is sold out.

Every event here has a published 2026 date on its organizer’s own website. Nothing on this page is pending.

A chunk of the night lives 45+ minutes northwest of the city — worth knowing before you commit, because on a Saturday Halloween the drive back is part of the ticket price.

The logistics reality for anything on this list after dark: budget 45 minutes to an hour back to the Denver metro, at exactly the hours surge pricing peaks. If your bed is in Denver, Aurora, or the south suburbs, factor the ride home into the decision — it’s often the difference between an $89 ticket and a $160 night.

You want a big costume party: you have four real choices this year, and the honest way to split them is by where you’ll be standing at closing time. Paranormal Palace is the hotel takeover in Greenwood Village, from $77; the hotel itself has sold out and about 5% of tickets remain, so it’s a decide-this-week pick. Meow Wolf’s Cosmic Howl is the most unusual room in the city and the easiest to reach from downtown. NOCTURNAL is the cheapest way into a real 21+ party at $30. Coloween is the biggest floor, but it’s in Lafayette, so price the drive. Our own breakdown, including reasons to skip us, is below.

You want to be scared, not dance: book a haunt. All of the metro’s serious haunted attractions run Halloween night, and for Haunted Field of Screams and Terror in the Corn it’s closing night, which is when the actors empty the tank. Buy timed tickets in advance — Saturday-Halloween walk-up lines will be brutal.

You want a great night under $20: DarknessCon’s Zombie Prom at the Castle Event Center in Northglenn, $15, 18+, after a daytime horror convention. For a 21+ room, NOCTURNAL is $30 general admission and a real costume party in RiNo. The bar crawls start at 4 PM.

You want live music, not a DJ: ShadowGrass plays the Ogden on the 31st with John Mailander’s Forecast. If a specific band is the reason you’re going out, take the show — no party beats seeing an act you love on Halloween night.

You want to bar-hop: three ticketed crawls run downtown on the 31st. The Official Halloween Bar Crawl goes 4 to 10 PM and Crawl With US goes 4 PM to midnight — wristband in, costume contest energy across a dozen bars, and the early one leaves time to catch a late event after.

You want culture, not chaos: the Symphony’s Nightmare Before Christmas matinee, Science Lounge Halloween at the Museum of Nature & Science for a 21+ evening, Ghosts in the Gardens at the Botanic Gardens after dark, or the Brown Palace’s Victorian masquerade if you’d rather wear a mask than a costume. All on the 31st, and most of them stack.

You have kids: parades in Longmont and on Pearl Street, pumpkin patches in the afternoon, trick-or-treating at dusk, and the Zoo’s sensory-friendly night if your family needs a calmer room. Note that Olde Town Arvada’s Trick or Treat Street runs Friday the 30th, not Halloween itself.

Daylight saving time ends at 2:00 AM as October 31 turns into November 1, so the clock runs 1:59 AM → 1:00 AM and Halloween night 2026 is effectively 25 hours long. Events open past 2 AM gain a bonus hour — this year that’s Coloween in Lafayette, running to 3 AM, and Tracks in RiNo, which closes right at the line. Our production at Paranormal Palace wraps at 1 AM — but this is a hotel takeover, and the night doesn’t have to end just because we do. Guests staying in the hotel ride the elevator up and move the party to their own floor, which puts the bonus hour right in the middle of the only afterparty in Denver that doesn’t require a ride, a cover, or a coat check. The hotel has sold out, so if you have a room, that’s your night.

Other numbers worth planning around: sunset in Denver is at about 5:59 PM, so trick-or-treating peaks roughly 6–8 PM and the adult events take over from there. And because everything lets out on one Saturday night, expect rideshare surge pricing metro-wide between midnight and 3 AM — the further your party is from your bed, the more that surge costs you. Plan your ride home before you go out: assign a sober driver, pre-schedule a pickup, or use light rail where it works (the E and R lines serve the Tech Center within walking distance of the DoubleTree, and RiNo sits on the A line at 38th & Blake).

We produce this one, so read this section knowing that — and knowing we’d rather you pick the right night than buy the wrong ticket.

What it is: the 17th annual Paranormal Palace, a full takeover of the DoubleTree by Hilton at 7801 E. Orchard Road in Greenwood Village. The Haunted Forest ballroom carries 8,000 square feet of decor, stage shows, and bars; the multi-level atrium — with balconies overlooking the main dance floor — turns into a maze of walkways, interactive exhibits, and light shows. Three DJs, 20-plus performers, theatrical acts, and a costume contest with $2,500 in cash and prizes, judged at midnight by professional performers, makeup artists, and costume designers. Register on site before 11 PM. Costumes aren’t encouraged — they’re mandatory. 21+, 8 PM to 1 AM. Current pricing: $77 GA, fees included · VIP sold out. Prices step up as tiers sell out; VIP is sold out, and about 5% of all tickets remain. Tickets on TicketFairy.

And what we’re genuinely best at, the reason people come back for a 17th year: it’s the only party in the metro built inside a hotel, and this year the hotel sold out before the party did. Which brings us to what that means for the night.

Every other big event on this list ends with you standing on a curb at surge-pricing hour. For the guests staying in the hotel, ours ends with an elevator ride, and for a lot of our regulars the ballroom closing is just the cue to change floors: move it to your room with the people you came with, order late-night delivery to the lobby, keep the night going on your own terms — and on this particular Halloween, collect the bonus 25th hour while you’re at it.

The hotel is sold out. The 41 atrium balcony rooms went in August, and the rest of the DoubleTree followed in October, earlier than in any of our 17 years. If you booked a room, you know what you’ve got. If you didn’t, the party still runs 8 PM to 1 AM and the ride-home math from the logistics section applies to us like everyone else: the E and R lines stop within walking distance, and a pre-scheduled pickup beats a 1 AM surge.

What’s left: about 5% of tickets, and VIP is sold out. When those are gone the party is sold out, same as the hotel.

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How this page works: every date and time above was checked against the organizer’s own website, not an aggregator. Every date above was re-verified the week of October 18. Nothing on this page is pending: every Denver tradition we track has now published its 2026 date. We re-check this page weekly through Halloween. Spot an error? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Whatever you choose on the 31st: don’t drink and drive. More planning tools: the complete 2026 season calendar, the party scorecard, the 21+ adults-only guide, and the hotel takeover explained.