It’s the second weekend in October, and Halloween fun is already starting. So here’s an excerpt of family-friendly activities for what is my seven-year-old grandsons’ favorite holiday. With the boys in mind, I’m listing things that aren’t too spooky to keep them from sleeping at night. Anything scarier is up to you!
October 12 - November 16 -- 27th Annual Dia de los Muertos Exhibition, Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr., Dallas. Open Tuesdays - Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Eclectic art in traditional and contemporary styles celebrates people, things, and ideas that have “passed on.” Free. See www.dallasculturecenter/bathhouseculture/.
October 16 -- Museum after Dark: Ghosts of the Past, Heritage Farmstead Museum, 1900 W. 15th St., Plano, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Tickets $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Learn about investigating paranormal activities and ghost hunting equipment. Reservations required. To register, and for other farmstead events of the season, see www.heritagefarmstead.org/.
October 19 -- Halloween at the Heard, Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary, 1 Nature Place, McKinney, 6-10 p.m. Trick-or-treating with the museum’s animatronic dinosaurs, outdoor movie, “Haunted Forest,” kids’ costume contest and more at this annual fund raising event. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children ages 3-12. The museum warns that tickets sell out. See www.heardmuseum.org/.
October 24-27 -- Halloween Nights at the Dallas Zoo, 650 S. R.L. Thornton (I-35), 5-8 p.m. Things get wild after hours at the zoo, with candy stations, a Monster Mash show, Animal Adventures shows and more. Tickets $10 for ages three and older, parking $5 per vehicle. For more information and discounts for members, go to
www.dallaszoo.com/.
October 26 -- Dia de los Muertos Festival, Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak Street, Dallas, all day beginning 11 a.m. Craft workshops, dancers and music on the plaza. For information, see www.dallasculture.org/latinoCulturalCenter/.
October 26 -- Spooky Storytime costume contest, Lakewood Branch Library, 6121 Worth St., Dallas, 1 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. Recommended for ages 4-11. For information, contact 214-670-1367.
October 26 - 27 -- Family Fun Weekend at the Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Dallas, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Trick or treating with costumed characters, petting zoo, magic show and more. Tickets to main garden, $15 for adults, $10 for children ages 3-12. Onsite parking, $10. For more information, including discounted parking, see www.dallasarboretum.org/.
October 31, 2013 -- Day of the Dead: The History, Reading and Games Room, Klyde Warren Park, 2012 Woodall Rodgers Freeway. Bring your lunch, learn about history and culture behind Day of the Dead celebrations and how to build an ofrenda to honor deceased loved ones. Free. See
www.klydewarrenpark.org/.
November 1 - 2 -- Ghost Tales, by Dallas Storytelling Guild at the Bath House, 521 E. Lawther Dr., Dallas. From 7-9 p.m. each night. Stories at the evening performances are intended for adult and teen audiences. This year there’s also a 2 p.m. matinee November 2 appropriate for elementary school aged kids. Evening tickets are $10, matinee $5 at the door 30 minutes before the shows. For more information, see http://dallasstorytelling.org/.
(Next Friday -- take a road trip during next weekend’s historic U.S. 80 Hi-Way Sale)
Showing posts with label Dia de los Muertos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dia de los Muertos. Show all posts
Friday, October 11, 2013
Friday, October 26, 2012
Totally Texas -- A Halloween for all ages
Love Halloween but despair of finding fun stuff that’s not too gory, too late-night or too adult to attend with your kids? Of course, I’ve got suggestions, rated G to PG to PG-13.
G-rated: G stands for “grown-ups” too. Everybody can find something fun at the Dallas Arboretum. This Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27, is Family Fun Weekend at the Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road in Dallas. Special events include trick or treating at the Small Houses of Great Artists from noon - 4 p.m. Special children‘s attractions also on Monday and Tuesday.
For something more late-night but still with a G rating, check out the Chihuly Nights, 6-9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. (Just announced, Dale Chihuly’s glass sculpture exhibits will remain at the Arboretum through the end of the year, with night hours Monday through Wednesday November through December.) For details on day and night activities, see http://www.dallasarboretum.org/.
Also with a G rating -- Dias de los Muertos celebration this Saturday, October 27, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak in Dallas. Includes performances by Alegre Ballet Folklorico and Aztec dancers, music and craft workshops. Artwork exhibit of altars created by local artists and the community runs through November 3. For more information, see www.dallasculture.org/latinoCulturalCenter/.
Still G, but be prepared to answer questions like, “What are those dead people doing?” at The Bath House Cultural Center’s Dia de los Muertos art exhibition, now through November 10. At 521 E. Lawther Dr., in Dallas. Free. See www.dallasculture.org/bathhouseculturecenter/.
Also at the Bathhouse, but now moving into PG-13 territory, ghost tales at 7 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, narrated by the Dallas Storytelling Guild. I attended last year and older due to mild but far from pornographic sexual content. Tour the art exhibit during intermission. Tickets $10. For more information, see
http://dallasstorytelling.org/.
I haven’t attended the Dallas Heritage Village’s Haunted Heritage evening tour, but since they sell tickets for the under-12 crowd, I’m guessing PG is still a safe rating. Tonight, October 26, from 6:30 - 9 p.m. Adult tickets $8 in advance, with limited quantities available at the door for $10 at the door, 1515 Harwood Street. For additional ticket information, see www.dallasheritagevillage.org/.
Willing to travel further afield? Try Murder & Mayhem: True Crimes of Collin County, tonight (October 26) 7-10 p.m., at Heritage Farmstead Village, 1900 W. 15th St., in Plano. The museum rates this PG-13, with tickets $20, advance sales only. Includes lantern tour of the site, storytelling and a reenacted historic murder trial. Contact Hilary Kidd, 972-881-0164, or
hkidd@heritagefarmstead.org/
And further north, check out the Legends of McKinney Ghost Walk, Saturday, October 27, from 6 - 10 p.m. A self-guided tour through the Chestnut Square Historic Village and downtown McKinney, with storytellers at each site to share the legends. I’ll rate this PG, for the time frame. Adult tickets $12 in advance, $15 the night of the walk. See www.chestnutsquare.org/.
G-rated: G stands for “grown-ups” too. Everybody can find something fun at the Dallas Arboretum. This Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27, is Family Fun Weekend at the Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road in Dallas. Special events include trick or treating at the Small Houses of Great Artists from noon - 4 p.m. Special children‘s attractions also on Monday and Tuesday.
For something more late-night but still with a G rating, check out the Chihuly Nights, 6-9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. (Just announced, Dale Chihuly’s glass sculpture exhibits will remain at the Arboretum through the end of the year, with night hours Monday through Wednesday November through December.) For details on day and night activities, see http://www.dallasarboretum.org/.
Also with a G rating -- Dias de los Muertos celebration this Saturday, October 27, beginning at 11 a.m. at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak in Dallas. Includes performances by Alegre Ballet Folklorico and Aztec dancers, music and craft workshops. Artwork exhibit of altars created by local artists and the community runs through November 3. For more information, see www.dallasculture.org/latinoCulturalCenter/.
Still G, but be prepared to answer questions like, “What are those dead people doing?” at The Bath House Cultural Center’s Dia de los Muertos art exhibition, now through November 10. At 521 E. Lawther Dr., in Dallas. Free. See www.dallasculture.org/bathhouseculturecenter/.
Also at the Bathhouse, but now moving into PG-13 territory, ghost tales at 7 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, narrated by the Dallas Storytelling Guild. I attended last year and older due to mild but far from pornographic sexual content. Tour the art exhibit during intermission. Tickets $10. For more information, see
http://dallasstorytelling.org/.
I haven’t attended the Dallas Heritage Village’s Haunted Heritage evening tour, but since they sell tickets for the under-12 crowd, I’m guessing PG is still a safe rating. Tonight, October 26, from 6:30 - 9 p.m. Adult tickets $8 in advance, with limited quantities available at the door for $10 at the door, 1515 Harwood Street. For additional ticket information, see www.dallasheritagevillage.org/.
Willing to travel further afield? Try Murder & Mayhem: True Crimes of Collin County, tonight (October 26) 7-10 p.m., at Heritage Farmstead Village, 1900 W. 15th St., in Plano. The museum rates this PG-13, with tickets $20, advance sales only. Includes lantern tour of the site, storytelling and a reenacted historic murder trial. Contact Hilary Kidd, 972-881-0164, or
hkidd@heritagefarmstead.org/
And further north, check out the Legends of McKinney Ghost Walk, Saturday, October 27, from 6 - 10 p.m. A self-guided tour through the Chestnut Square Historic Village and downtown McKinney, with storytellers at each site to share the legends. I’ll rate this PG, for the time frame. Adult tickets $12 in advance, $15 the night of the walk. See www.chestnutsquare.org/.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Totally Texas -- Pumpkin time at the Arboretum
Autumn at the Arboretum
Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road
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October at the Dallas Arboretum means pumpkins. More than 50,000 weird and wonderful pumpkins, fall squash and gourds decorate the gardens. This year there are also gardens made of pumpkin mosaics (Southern Living magazine’s October issue featured them). But hold onto your trick or treat bag -- there are whole fairy tale houses built of pumpkins.
The Pecan Grove showcases all of these photo ops. And since the Arboretum asks people to come in costume for their pictures, the grove and walking trails recently have been crowded with children dressed as fairy tale characters.
Halloween on Monday this year also coincides with the Mommy & Me Mondays events of the autumn festival. For children under 5, that means a petting zoo, arts and crafts activities and face painting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and more.
Need any more excuses to snap those pictures? Take a photo of your children, or your favorite fairy prince and princess, in a life-size replica of Cinderella’s coach “pulled” by topiary horses.
The Arboretum warns that, because of the activities, Monday is its busiest weekday. But most of the crowd leaves for naptime by 2 p.m., leaving the gardens to older visitors until its 5 p.m. closing.
In spite of the pumpkins, my vote for the star of this fall’s festival goes to the Nancy Rutchik Red Maple Rill, opened this month. More than 200 Japanese maples line the banks of the rill’s cascading creek and its walkways. As always, there’s plenty of room for children to move around.
Autumn at the Arboretum continues through November 23 but the gardens stay open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. See www.dallasarboretum.org/ for additional information, including tickets and parking.
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Also this week: Admission to the Dallas Museum of Art’s First Tuesday program is free November 1. Activities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. are designed for children five and under, but all ages are welcome. See www.dallasmuseumofart.org for details.
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Can’t stand to wait another year for the next Halloween? Stretch the fun with the Dia de los Muertos art exhibit at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr. in Dallas. The free exhibit runs through November 12 during regular Bath House hours, Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. See www.bathhousecultural.com/ for information.
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