Halloween in Waikiki

Royal Hawaiian Center: Trick-or-Treating and the Costume Contest, Sun Oct 25

This is the main family event of the week. From noon to 6 p.m., participating stores and restaurants at Royal Hawaiian Center hand out treats while supplies last, so go early. The center hasn’t posted the list of participating shops yet; it goes up on its trick-or-treating page. Free balloon animals run from noon to 3 p.m., and a free photo booth runs from 3 to 5 p.m.

The Halloween Keiki Costume Contest, which the center bills as Waikiki’s largest, runs in The Royal Grove at the center. Here is the day as the center lays it out:

• Pre-register online before noon on Oct 25, with one form per age group. Each child enters one category: ages 0 to 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 10, or ʻOhana Costumes (a parent and a child up to 10 together).
• Check in at The Royal Grove from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Pre-registered or not, every contestant has to check in on site, and check-in closes at 2:45 sharp.
• The contest runs 3 to 4:45 p.m. Judges deliberate until 5, and winners are announced from 5 to 5:15 p.m. with a group photo.
• Prizes: the Grand Overall winner gets a $250 Royal Hawaiian Center gift card plus two flight vouchers on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines between Hawaiʻi and North America. Each category pays $150, $100 and $50 gift cards for first, second and third.

The center opens at 10 a.m. Guest Services, at Helumoa Hale in Building B next to The Royal Grove, answers questions from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at (808) 922-2299.

Boos & Brews at the Honolulu Zoo, Sat Oct 24

The Honolulu Zoo Society’s Octo-bear-fest: Boos & Brews takes over the zoo’s Great Lawn from 5 to 9 p.m. Kids get a trunk-or-treat run by the VW Club of Hawaiʻi, lawn games and costume contests; parents get live music from The Matterhorns and pours from four local breweries, Aloha Beer Co., Waikīkī Brewing Company, Beer Lab HI and Honolulu BeerWorks. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for ages 2 to 12 and free under 2; the $45 adult brew ticket adds the beer and requires ID showing you are 21. No outside food or drinks. The Honolulu Zoo sits at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki on Kapahulu Avenue.

BOOgie at Beach Walk, Sat Oct 31

On Halloween itself, Waikiki Beach Walk holds BOOgie at Beach Walk from 6 to 10 p.m.: a live DJ, trick-or-treating and more than ten food vendors, including poke bowls from KBay Bros, smoked barbecue from This Lil Piggy and fall-flavored gelato from Il Gelato Hawaii. It is the easiest family stop on Halloween night, on Lewers Street between Kalākaua Avenue and Kalia Road.

Mysteries of Hawaiʻi calls itself the island’s original ghost tour, started in 1997 as part of Glen Grant’s Haunted Hawaiian tours and run today by storyteller Lopaka Kapanui. It is Native Hawaiian owned and operated, and USA Today 10Best readers voted it the best ghost tour in the country in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The stories are history and eyewitness accounts, not jump scares: the company says no one hides in the bushes.

The Waikiki Night Marchers tour covers the burials, heiau, battlefields and aliʻi homes under modern Waikiki, and the paths of the huakaʻi pō, the night marchers. It meets at the Kapiʻolani Park Bandstand and starts promptly at 7 p.m. on Sunday and Wednesday nights. It runs 90 minutes and costs $40 a person booked direct; there are no printed tickets, so you check in by name. Halloween week brings tours on Sunday, Oct 25 and Wednesday, Oct 28, when a second tour starts at 9 p.m. (full calendar). If you take a rideshare, the company gives the plus code 759H+FJ Honolulu as the drop-off.

• What to bring. A sweater and sturdy shoes, no heels. The Waikiki route includes some walking on grass.
• Kids. Families are welcome, and the company leaves younger children to parents’ judgment; its FAQ says some tours aren’t suited to kids under 12.
• At the zoo. Lopaka also leads the Honolulu Zoo Society’s Histories and Mysteries Tour, an after-dark walk through the zoo with stories from its staff, on Sunday, Oct 25 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets run $34 to $45 on Eventbrite, and the meeting point is Gate 3 at 151 Kapahulu Avenue. It ends at 6:30, which leaves time to cross Kapiʻolani Park to the bandstand for the 7 p.m. Night Marchers tour.
• Downtown. The same company runs two Honolulu walks from the King Kamehameha Statue, both $40 at 7 p.m.: Ghosts of Old Honolulu on Saturday, Oct 24, and Honolulu Night Marchers on Monday, Oct 26 and Friday, Oct 30, when a 9 p.m. tour is added.

The Costume Crowd on Kalākaua Avenue

Halloween night is when Waikiki dresses up. On Oct 31, 2025, Hawaii News Now reported thousands of people in costume walking both sides of Kalākaua Avenue, with barriers up to stop jaywalking, extra lighting at some intersections, and police on foot, on bikes and on ATVs. This year Halloween lands on a Saturday. Nobody organizes it and nothing is ticketed: you walk the avenue and look. Go after dark, stay on the sidewalk, and keep an eye on your phone and bag, the advice authorities gave in 2022.

Tales of Haunted Hawaiʻi at Blue Note Hawaii, Sat Oct 31

For a seated Halloween, Lopaka Kapanui brings his ghost stories to the stage at Blue Note Hawaii, inside the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. Tales of Haunted Hawaiʻi starts at 6:30 p.m. (doors 5:30). Tickets are $30 to $45 with a $20 food and drink minimum a person, and seating is first come, first served within each section. Tables are all ages, the bar area is 21+, and the club doesn’t recommend the show for keiki under 12. Buy only from Blue Note’s site or TicketWeb; the club says those are the only authorized sellers.

Tiki’s Annual Halloween Bash, Sat Oct 31

Tiki’s Grill & Bar, at 2570 Kalākaua Avenue, runs its Halloween Bash from 8 p.m. to close with live local music, a DJ and themed drinks. It is strictly 21 and up, with ID checked at the door. Tickets step up as the night gets closer: $15 early bird, $25 presale and $40 late or at the door, with a $15 rate for dinner guests. Costumes are strongly encouraged.

More for Grown-Ups

• Friday fireworks, Oct 30. Hilton Hawaiian Village’s Friday fireworks go up at 7:45 p.m. Watch free from the sand at the Hilton end of Waikiki, or from a boat (the second card below).
• Ghost Club Pub Crawl, Tue Oct 27. Mysteries of Hawaiʻi starts a 21+ crawl at Skull & Crown Trading Co. in Chinatown at 7 p.m. with haunted history and a rum tasting, then moves on to a few more bars until 10. The reservation link isn’t posted yet; watch the events page.