There have been many different costumes at Trunk or Treat. Photo / Supplied
There have been many different costumes at Trunk or Treat. Photo / Supplied
Dressing up in costumes, spooky activities, exploring an "abandoned carnival" and trick or treating out of car boots are some of the Halloween fun available for families.
There are a number of free events happening around the city for this year's spooky season.
The Rotorua Night Market will be bringingdelicious food, haunting entertainment, spooky activities and Halloween fancy dress competitions to the community on Thursday (October 27).
Rotorua Lakes Council director of events Joelene Elliott says as well as the market's normal great selection of food vendors and live music, the centre of the market will be all about Halloween for families.
The events start from 5pm. MC Norm kicks off proceedings with apple bobbing competitions and the junior fancy dress competition.
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The Western Heights Symphonic Band will take over from 6pm, then Norm will return at 6.45pm for more apple bobbing and the 13 years and over fancy dress competition.
From 5pm to 8pm, families can guess the number of candies in a jar, paint spooky moulds to take home, get a creepy balloon from the Balloon Man and have their face painted.
Joelene says "Kids (and adults) love to dress up, and this is a great place to bring them along to show off their outfits and enjoy some cool activities".
"With the weather improving and more visitors coming to Rotorua, the team at the Rotorua Night Market are looking forward to having some fun this Halloween event. It is great to have free activities for whānau to enjoy and take part in."
There will also be plenty of spooky action happening at Motion Entertainment on Friday, October 28 with its Halloween Spooktacular.
Motion Entertainment will be transformed into an abandoned carnival for its Spooktacular Halloween event from 5pm to 10pm.
Lumberjax mini golf becomes a scare maze for one night only and each attraction is themed in its own Spooktacular way.
Marketing manager Taku-Anne Jones says they will be giving away spot prizes for best-dressed visitors, so they strongly recommend a Halloween-inspired costume.
"We're looking forward to connecting with our community. We hope the event will create fun memories for our local whānau.
"Motion is a place of fun and excitement, so we enjoy dressing up and making the most of Halloween with like-minded people.
"The best thing about celebrating Halloween at Motion is our all-in-one, under-one-roof venue - there's no need to worry about rain."
Halloween Spooktacular is an all-ages family event, and Motion Entertainment's cafe will have Halloween-themed food available alongside its usual menu.
And The Hits Rotorua will be putting a twist on trick or treating for families.
Its Trunk or Treat event features cars/vans with their boots - or trunks as Americans call them - open and decorated, with the owners of the cars giving out lollies and candy to kids who are trick or treating.
The Hits Rotorua announcer Paul Hickey says there are two parts to it.
"Anybody can come along to go trick or treating, and we also are looking for people who can go the extra mile and bring their decorated car along to be part of the night."
The Hits Rotorua Trunk or Treat is on Monday, October 31, from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, at the Mitre 10 Mega Carpark.
Get creative with Halloween decorations for Trunk or Treat. Photo / Supplied
Paul says he had seen this done by a few radio stations in the United States and thought it was a great concept.
"It's trick or treating without the worry of the kids walking all over the neighbourhood and the unknown.
"We provide a safe controlled environment for the kids to have some fun with like-minded families."
He says The Hits Rotorua has held Trunk or Treat once before and it was a lot of fun. However, the past couple of years the event has had to be cancelled.
"So I'm just excited to do something fun for our community again and see plenty of happy (and hopefully scary) faces."
Paul says it is free to come along, but kids must be in costume to go trick or treating.
• Anybody who can help with a decorated trunk/car boot can register their interest by emailing paul@thehits.co.nz.
