Haringey schools break from 26 to 30 October and Halloween falls on the Saturday. The Ally Pally fireworks has moved off that weekend to 7 and 8 November.

Haringey’s October half term runs from Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October 2026. The first half of the autumn term ends on Friday 23 October and school goes back on Monday 2 November (Haringey Council). Academies and free schools set their own dates, so check yours, but that is the borough calendar.

Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October, the day after half term ends, in the weekend between the two halves of term.

The change that catches people out

For years the Alexandra Palace fireworks was the Halloween-weekend fixture. It ran on 31 October and 1 November in 2025. It is not on Halloween weekend in 2026. The Fireworks and Drone Festival has moved to Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, a week later, after the Palace’s board approved a switch from a Friday and Saturday format to Saturday and Sunday.

If you are planning around a bonfire night, plan around the weekend after half term, not the one at the end of it. Times, prices, the DICE ticketing and the road closure position are on our Ally Pally fireworks page.

What is actually booked in half term week

Alexandra Palace has a busy October, but almost none of it is for children. In half term week itself the Palace’s programme is three adult evening events: Overmono on Wednesday 28 October, the comedian Gary Delaney on Thursday 29 October and the London Bollywood Orchestra on Friday 30 October.

On Halloween Saturday itself there are two: Skindred in the Great Hall, and Haringey Huskies against the Invicta Mustangs at the ice rink. The ice hockey is the family option of the two.

The one genuine children’s event is the day after. Wallace and Gromit with a live brass band, in the Alexandra Palace Theatre on Sunday 1 November, recommended for ages 5 and up:

  • Show one, 2pm to 3.30pm, doors 1.30pm: A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave, the latter billed as a world premiere live performance
  • Show two, 4.30pm to 5.40pm, doors 3.30pm: The Wrong Trousers

The KNDS Fairey Band plays Julian Nott’s original scores live. The Palace’s listing carries a code, W&GFAMILY25, for 25 per cent off if you book both shows, covering up to two adults and three children (Alexandra Palace).

Earlier in the month, before half term, the Palace has Knit + Stitch from 8 to 11 October, which has its own page here on tickets, prices and opening times, and the Crouch End Festival Chorus singing Mozart’s Requiem on 25 October.

The things that are open every day

Three attractions at Alexandra Palace run through half term regardless of what is programmed in the halls.

The ice rink. Skating is £11.75 off peak and £12.75 peak, with skate aids at £7.50 which have not been bookable online since March. Ice discos run through the season. Prices and session detail are on our Christmas at Ally Pally page.

Go Ape, in the park, less than a ten-minute walk from Alexandra Palace station, with parking at the East Court car park. Published starting prices are Treetop Adventure from £23.95 for ages 4 to 10, minimum height one metre; Treetop Adventure Plus from £28.95 for 6 and up; Treetop Challenge from £39.95 for 10 and up; the shortened Treetop Challenge Xpress from £32.95; and the after-dark Sundown Adventures from £33.95 for 6 and up (Go Ape). Sundown is the one that suits the dark half-term afternoons, but Go Ape has not published its 2026 Alexandra Palace dates for it.

The boating lake, with pedalos and rowing boats, weather permitting.

Free, indoors, and open on the wet days

Bruce Castle Museum, Lordship Lane, Tottenham N17 8NU, is free and open Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm to 5pm. For younger children the Little Parlour is a hands-on gallery aimed at ages 3 to 8, with costumes, books and puzzles. Creative craft packs are handed out at reception, but at weekends only, so they are no use on a Tuesday in half term.

Two sticker trails cost £1 each from the main reception desk: Mystery Manor, in which a dragon-like creature called Wilbur the Wyvern guides families round the manor house, and the Bruce Castle Tree Trail for the grounds. Bruce Castle Park has a playground behind the museum, the gates are never locked, and the Pavilion café is in the south-east corner (Bruce Castle).

The museum has run a Halloween event called Creepy Castle in past years, with the house taken over by spirits. Nothing is announced for 2026. As of today the museum’s special events page lists only its Open House day on 13 September. The museum is also closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which takes out two of the five half-term weekdays.

Highgate Wood, 70 acres of ancient woodland run by the City of London Corporation, puts on guided walks and family events through the year and books them through Eventbrite. Nothing is listed there for the half-term window yet either.

Getting about

Muswell Hill’s controlled parking zone runs seven days a week, which surprises people on a Sunday. Zone hours and tariffs are on parking in Crouch End, and anything dug up that week will be on the Crouch End roadworks and travel page. For the rest of the year round the area, see things to do in Crouch End.

We will update this page when Bruce Castle publishes its half-term programme and when Highgate Wood lists its autumn walks. Neither had anything up for the half-term window when we checked on 6 September.

Sources checked on 6 September 2026