Halloween at the Museum: Early Entry for Families

Member Presale

Get tickets
What
SPECIAL EVENT
When
Tickets
Member Adult $33
Member Child (3 to 16)$19
Member Concession $30

Hoping to have a scare free start to the Halloween experience or looking for something for 0 – 6 year olds or those that don’t want to be too scared?

Couldn't make it last year? Unsure what a Halloween at the Museum is like? It's our goal to surpass your wildest imaginings by transforming the museum into a Halloween wonderland. For a small taste of all we have planned, watch this compilation of last year's event and check out the first release of our Halloween program.

Enjoy a scare free start to Halloween at the Museum from 5:30pm to 7:00pm just for families. Then stay on for the main event, if you would like to, from 7pm.

With a special entry just for kids in the jungle tunnel, the Family Early Entry is a limited ticket experience that includes:

  • Kids Trick or Treat in the Bubble Garden
  • Wrapped Candies Goodie Bag
  • Skeleton Collector Cards
  • Spooky Science Show with Scienceworks
  • Kids Monster Halloween Disco 
  • Snake Pit
  • Frog Fog Garden
  • Frog Skeleton Scavenger Hunt
  • Facepainting
  • Entry into Halloween at the Museum event

Tickets are limited for this experience but allow access into the full Halloween in the Museum event from 7pm.

Optional add on

Please note: You can add LEGO® Star Wars: The Exhibition access (8pm to midnight) to your ticket during the add-on stage of your transaction.

Program

More coming soon!

A parent and child walk through a lane flagged in trees and puppeteers moving giant bees on poles. A man in a science lab coat entertains a crowd outside during Halloween at the Museum. A little girl smiles with enjoyment as she is shown the painted scorpion on her face during Halloween at the Museum. Children being shown creepy crawly collections by Museums Victoria experts during Halloween at the Museum. A child dressed as a ghost trick or treating during Halloween at the Museum. A family dressed as vampires and the undead during Halloween at the Museum.

  • Kids Monster Halloween Disco 

    7 to 11pm | Children’s Gallery Big Box

    Children dressed up disco dancing.

    Dance like a monster under the mirror ball in the Kids Halloween Disco, with spooky songs all night to shake your claws and tails too. 

    Campfire Stories

    7 to 11pm | Dynamic Earth Gallery

    People enjoying a scary campfire story during Halloween at the Museum.
    We asked google how to make a campfire indoors. It gave us 40 million matches.

    Gather ‘round the campfire for spooky science stories of the supernatural world as we spin enchanting tales of creatures that are stranger than fiction and things that go bump in the night.

    New stories start every 15 minutes.

    Spooky Science

    7 to 10:30pm | Children’s Gallery Garden

    Families dressed in Halloween costumes learn about spooky science at a science show during Halloween at the Museum.

    Mad science meets frightening physics at our Scienceworks side stage with tricks and treats aplenty from flowing slime to fountains of fog and hair-raising surprises galore.

    Frog Fog Garden

    7pm to Midnight | Children’s Gallery Garden

    Boink Boink, Ribbet Ribbet, creep through the fog and see if you can find the hidden frog skeletons in the Frog Fog Garden!  

    Face Painting

    8 to 10pm | Galleria

    A little girl smiles with enjoyment as she is shown the painted scorpion on her face during Halloween at the Museum.

    Join in the Halloween face painting experience with our amazing Halloween witches.

    Snake Pit

    7 to 11pm | Children’s Gallery

    Beware Snakes!! Wrestle with the fluffy snakes in the snake pit. Will you survive the cuddle attack by our silly serpents? 

  • Creepy Cabins

    7pm to Midnight | Melbourne Story

    Little Landsdale cabin decorated during Halloween at the Museum.

    Explore the Little Lon Cabins by Candlelight, but be careful, something wicked this way comes – watch out it might be scary!

    Trick or Treat

    7 to 10pm | Gandel Gondwana Garden

    A child dressed as a ghost trick or treating during Halloween at the Museum.
    There's no soul food in that bucket.

    Trick or Treat your way through the Bubble Garden, find your limited-edition skeleton collector cards, with delectable, wrapped candies and surprises along the way.

    Horrible Hairy Hands

    7pm to 11pm | Lab 1 and Lab 2

    Will the Hairy Hands give you a trick or a treat? Can they tell if you have been naughty or nice? Try your luck at the horrible hairy hands to see if you will get a treat or a trick! 

    The Cephalod’s Realm

    7pm to Midnight | Science and Life Gallery

    Creep under the giant Cephalopod and marvel as its many legs! Cephalopods are older than dinosaurs, appearing in fossil records 500 million years ago. These boneless creatures can be found in marine habitats, making them the ideal inspiration for horrifying ocean lore from around the world.

    The Spiders Nest

    7pm to Midnight | Immersive Studio

    Warning!! Warning!! The spider zone is not for the faint of heart! Enter if you dare through the spider web to see the spider’s nest!

    (This experience is possible to avoid if you really fear spiders) 

  • Adult Only Zone

    8pm to midnight | Treetops | Adults Only

    A woman wearing a witch costume holding a cocktail with candy teeth impaled on straws.
    Sink your teeth into our amazing cocktails!

    This is an adults only zone where you can grab a drink at the tavern, watch the kraken, dig into a handful of gold coins, try a slime shot, be horrified by terrifying science, sit in the mist and watch a horror movie marathon, or have your tarot read! More details coming soon.

    Horror Science for Grown Ups

    8 to 11pm | Treetops | Adults Only

    A supernatural science show during Halloween at the Museum.

    Horror Science and frightening physics at our Scienceworks adults only science show goosebumps, screams and adult only silly jokes!

    Haunted Cinema

    7pm to Midnight | Melbourne Story

    People dressed in Halloween costumes outside the Melbourne story cinema during Halloween at the Museum.

    Step into a haunted 1920’s cinema for a spooky sampling of curated clips and trailers presented by The Melbourne Horror Film Society. From 6:30 to 8:30pm, enjoy family-friendly horror clips from around the world. As night falls, dive into a darker side with back-to-back horror trailers from B grade gorefests to cult classics. 

  • The Ghost Story Stage

    7pm to Midnight | Melbourne Story

    A museum tour guide dressed as a bloody butcher talks to audiences about horrible histories during Halloween at the Museum.

    The Ghost story stage is running all night with horrible history mysteries, ghostly and gory tales from paranormal Melbourne, terrifying collection objects and even a little Viking mythology!  

    Tales as old as time in the haunted halls of Melbourne Museum on a paranormal stage, join us for adventures through space and time. The Ghost Story stage will have new stories every 15 mins all night! Meet you ghostly host for stories with the most!

    • Shadows of Little Lon
    • Creepy Collecting
    • The Black Cat Nine Lives
    • The Stagecoach Murders
    • The Trouble at the Asylum
    • The Ghost in the Theatre
    • The Tavern Travesty
    • The Ghoul in the Goal
    • Spooky Spiritualism
    • The Wild Hunt - Nordic Ghost Tale
    • The Zombie Vikings – Nordic Ghost Tale
    • The Vikings Lonely Ghost – Nordic Ghost Tale

    The Vampire Squid from Hell

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    A museum expert crouches behind a wall of marine animal collections preserved in jars during Halloween at the Museum.

    Come eye-to-eye with creatures that lurk in the ocean's shadows and inspired the scariest name of the marine world - Vampyroteuthis infernalis - the vampire squid from hell. Presented by Julian Finn, Museums Victoria’s Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates.

    Ultraviolet Underworld

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    Venture into an eerie ultraviolet underground world of precious gemstones and discover the magic of fluorescence with minerals and precious gemstones from opals to sapphires that glow in the dark with Oskar Lindenmayer, Collection Manager, Geosciences and Dermot Henry, Head of Sciences, Museums Victoria Research Institute.

    Zombie worms and other haunting marine life

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    A museum expert stands beside marine collection items in jars during Halloween at the Museum.

    Be haunted by bone-eating zombie worms, volcanic shark graveyards, and other daunting marine creatures that have inspired science fiction writers and movies from ancient oceans to today.

    Spooky skull projections

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    What do monitor lizards, and the Stegosaurus have in common? They both have osteoderms. Discover the tree of vertebrate life with real micro computed tomography µCT-scans, peer inside the skin bones to see what is hiding underneath with Roy Ebel, Museums Victoria Research Institute

    Spinning webs and spider traps

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    Children being show live exhibits during Halloween at the Museum.

    Unravel the secrets of spiderwebs from Orb Weavers, Huntsman, Funnel webs to Tarantulas, discover how these master architects spin their intricate traps.

    Mysterious Minibeasts

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    How big can a spider really get? What invertebrates glow in the dark? Meet Simon Hinkley, Collection Manager, Terrestrial Invertebrates and Claire Keely Collection Manager, Insects and Spiders as they answer these and many other spooky questions!

    Fangs, Frogs and Frights

    7 to 10pm | Science and Life Gallery

    Children being shown creepy crawly collections by Museums Victoria experts during Halloween at the Museum.

    Learn about the razor-sharp teeth and blood sucking habits of the real-life vampires of the animal kingdom, discover scary skeleton facts with Dr Kylea Clarke, Museums Victoria’s Collection Manager of Terrestrial Vertebrates, Karen Roberts Collection Manager, Vertebrates, Katie Date Collection Manager, Terrestrial Vertebrates and Elise Ireland, Information Officer Sciences

  • Treasures of the Viking Age: The Galloway Hoard

    7pm to Midnight | Melbourne Story Gallery

    Beads, curios, heirloom objects and a silver brooch-hoop from the top of the lidded vessel in the Galloway Hoard.

    This premium touring exhibition is included with all Halloween tickets.

    Travel back in time to early medieval Scotland and discover the unique and mysterious treasure trove of Viking-age treasures, from jewellery, personal heirlooms and one-of-a-kind objects from as far away as Central Asia.

    The Galloway Hoard is considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the century.

    The Bone Zone

    7pm to Midnight | Science & Life Gallery

    A small child walks along the main thoroughfare of Dinosaur Walk exhibition during Halloween at the Museum.

    Walk past the skeletons of 17 prehistoric animals throughout Dinosaur Walk. Discover the origin of life in Victoria told through fossils, models, animatronics and animations. See a world of insects, spiders, snails and other invertebrates in Bugs Alive! and immerse yourself in the lost world of the Cretaceous in Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs.

    Children’s Gallery

    7pm to 10pm | Just for Kids
    10pm to Midnight | Everyone Welcome

    Families entering Halloween at the Museum via a boulevard of trees and puppeteers animating giant bees above their heads.

    For one night only, children of all ages can explore the Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery, including a spooky Scienceworks side stage packed with mad science and frightening physics, the Fog Frog Garden, The Kids Monster Halloween Disco and more.

    Ghastly Gondwana Garden

    7pm to 10pm | Just for Kids
    10pm to Midnight | Everyone Welcome

    Explore Victoria’s ancient landscapes and learn about creatures that once walked this land, from dinosaurs and megafauna and touch replicas of the bones, teeth and claws of ancient creatures.

    Mystical Melbourne

    7 to Midnight | Melbourne Story

    A man dressed as a member of the clergy outside little Landsdale exhibition during Halloween at the Museum.

    Journey through Melbourne’s past and present, exploring haunted tales, supernatural legends, and the criminal events that have shaped Melbourne’s hidden history.

  • We have lots of creepy catering and morbid menus to reveal. Watch this space!

    Vampire Bites Cafe

    7 to 11pm | Museum Cafe, Ground Level

    Two vampires enjoying sundae ice-creams together during Halloween at the Museum.
    Get a taste of Sundae on Friday.

    Enter the Vampire Bites Cafe, a one-night-only casual pop-up diner with a menu that will satisfy carnivores and herbivores – with something to sink your fangs into for big and small.

Accessibility

Please view our accessibility page for general information. Contact our team on 13 11 02 or email us at [email protected] to discuss how we can support your visit.

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