From boutique trick-or-treating to drag brunches and poison tours, Alexandria is pulling out all the stops for Halloween 2025. Whether you’re looking for family-friendly activities, pet parades, or adults-only thrills, the city’s packed calendar offers something for every ghoul and goblin.
Here’s your guide to the best Halloween happenings around the city.
The deadline to nominate a home and business in Del Ray’s annual Best Decorated Halloween House and Business Contest is Sunday, Oct. 19.
The winners of the contest will be announced at the conclusion of the 29th annual Del Ray Halloween Parade on Sunday, Oct. 26. Visit Del Ray will also present awards for the best pet costume and best stroller/group. “For over 30 years, local residents and businesses have gone all out decorating for Halloween, competing for bragging rights for best decorated house and business,” Visit Del Ray said. “A map of the finalists will be available the week before Halloween.”
Alexandria’s Clerk of Court Greg Parks will officiate “Halloweddings” on Friday, Oct. 31, in Old Town.
For the first time, Parks and his staff will perform the weddings in 18th-century costumes in the ballroom of Gadsby’s Tavern Museum (138 N. Royal Street). He wants the happy couples to dress up however they want — as Lydia Deets and Beetlejuice, Gomez and Morticia Addams, even Ken and Barbie. The ceremonies take about 20 minutes to perform, and reservations are available between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The annual Nightmare on the Avenue Halloween pop-up bar will soon be reopening at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray.
With new spooky interior decorations, food and drink menus, owner Bill Blackburn of the Homegrown Restaurant Group is aiming to reopen sometime next weekend — between Friday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 14.
It was another spooktacular Halloween on picturesque Lee Street in Old Town.
Thousands of costumed revelers filled their sacks with candy in the annual tradition.
Somebody must have said Beetlejuice’s name too many times, because he was all over the 28th annual Del Ray Halloween Parade on Sunday (Oct. 27).
Thousands of costumed heroes, villains and characters paraded down Mount Vernon Avenue. The weather was crisp — about 60 degrees in the sun, and like an early indication of the days to come felt considerably cooler in the shade.
Anyone out celebrating Halloween this weekend should remember: the Nonprofit Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP) is sponsoring free Lyft rides to prevent drunk driving.
According to a release:
The only reason Del Ray residents don’t have skeletons in their closets is because they’ve been moved to front yards.
At least temporarily.
The Nightmare on the Avenue popup is returning to Del Ray later this month, the owner tells ALXnow.
Homegrown Restaurant Group (HRG) expects the annual Halloween-themed bar at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue to be ready for business in mid-September. That means customers should expect a fully decorated experience with spooky craft cocktails and a food menu.
Zombies, mummies and superheroes attended the annual Halloween celebration on S. Lee Street in Old Town.
Thousands of costumed kids and adults walked up and down the closed-off street starting at 5 p.m., furthering a tradition that goes back decades. Residents of Lee Street spend thousands on decorations and candy for the throngs of costumed guests.
Nearly 1,200 signatures have been collected in a new Change.org petition asking for a holiday for Alexandria City Public Schools students the day after Halloween, on Nov. 1.
According to the petition:
