To celebrate the Friday the 13th happening this October, host a “Friday the 13th” franchise marathon on a big screen. From the original bone-chilling classic to the latest sequels, it's a night of terror not for the faint-hearted!

Light up a campfire and invite moviegoers to share scary stories they’ve heard over the years – or even original tales. But don’t make the whole night doom and gloom – sweeten things up by simultaneously roasting marshmallows for s’mores!

Before your showing, include a fun, themed activity – like pumpkin carving, fortune telling or horror movie trivia – to create a wickedly good time for your community. 

What supernatural activity lingers in your campus community? Find out by inviting a team of paranormal researchers to search as they demonstrate their equipment and explain how everything works to attendees. They can also share stories about previous investigations.

Decorate the surroundings with spooky elements like fog machines, haunted props, and dim lighting.

Host a Halloween-themed carnival in conjunction with a spooktacular Halloween film! Invite acrobats, aerialists, and tarot card readers to perform, feature fun games like boo-loon pop, pumpkin bowling, or toilet paper mummy, and include lots of delicious treats to create an event your campus will never forget!

Host a drive-in Halloween movie screening paired with a family-friendly trunk ‘r’ treat event!

“We hosted a ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Free Outdoor Movie Night as the first program in our ‘Parks After Dark’ series, which featured a different Halloween-related activity in a different city park every Thursday night in October 2022.”

– City of Collinsville Parks & Recreation

“We offered five movie options and placed polls online, at local schools, and nearby businesses to allow everyone to vote on what they wanted to see. We also provided pre-movie programming with community tabling, giant Jenga, and pumpkin painting.”

– Midtown Indy

“At our Jack-O’-Lantern Jamboree, attendees had the opportunity to play fall-themed games, receive some sweet treats along the Trick-or-Treat Trail and make s'mores at the campfire stations. Costumes were encouraged, and the Southpaw Eatz food truck was on hand. At dusk, ‘Hocus Pocus’ was shown on the big screen. Any business or organization in the community was invited to set up a craft or game station along the trick-or-treat trail to hand out candy and any promotional advertising items.”

– City of Wheeling

“Monsters and Movie on Main was created to provide a fun safe way to Trick or Treat, bring some business to our downtown business owners, and engage our police officers with the community.  The event began with trick-or-treating on Main Street at each of the local businesses.  We had officers stationed at the crosswalks along the way to engage with our little monsters.  As the trick-or-treaters made their way down to Lilburn City Park we had other local businesses set up booths in the park, decorate with a Halloween theme, host a kid-friendly activity and pass out candy. Some of the activities included pumpkin putting, vampire tattoos, spin the spider on the web, and face painting. Plus, we had a costume contest right before the movie. The finale was the showing of ‘Hotel Transylvania’ that all ages enjoyed. The movie was a great opportunity to thank our sponsors, who were very pleased to see their name on the movie screen before and after the event. Monsters and Movie on Main will become a City of Lilburn tradition!”

– City of Lilburn