Written by: Tanushree Bubna 10/08/2010 5:15 PM
Got ghouls on your mind? Spooky creatures peeking out from everywhere? Yes Halloween is around the corner and this year; why not trade your trick or treating playground from your good old neighborhood to a campground or RV park near you? Let us give you a rundown on which campgrounds have the best Halloween activities planned for this year.
FLORIDA
Dunedin Carefree RV Resort, Dunedin, boasts a unique Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre on Halloween (Oct 30-31). They decorate the theater like a Haunted Mansion, and turn the lights down very low, so everything looks a little obscure. Guests are invited to dress up in their favorite Halloween costumes. Eerie sounding dishes are served up such as "Intestines a la ragu"(Spaghetti) with a side of "leg bones"(sausage), Swamp grass salad, (tossed salad) stomach juice dressing (Italian), Vampire Proof Bread (garlic). Next, Dracula, Frankenstein, or just your plain old everyday ghosts and ghouls arrive and find a victim. Then guests are to solve a murder mystery. Definitely a pretty interesting party here!
Big Tree Carefree RV Resort, Arcadia, is an RV park that caters to adults and hence their Halloween activities follow suit. They conduct an Annual Halloween Wine Tasting Party (Oct 30-31) where people are encouraged to come in costume. Everyone is asked to bring a bottle of their favorite wine preferably from their home state, this way they get to taste different varietals and vintages. This year will see music and dancing added to the event.
MASSACHUSETTS
Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort, Foxboro, has two themed Halloween Weekends in October, 22-24 & 29-31. Activities include costume and site decorating contests as well as a haunted house and spook hayride. All of their proceeds go toward the Jimmy Fund to help support those with cancer and their families. Their Halloween weekends are so popular that they get booked up to a year in advance and they've even added a Halloween week in July.
NEW YORK
At Brookside Campground, Catskill, you can expect a very fun traditional Halloween party during Halloween weekend (Oct 30-31) with a piñata, apple bobbing, trick or treating, hay rides, face painting and more.
Copake KOA, Copake, will be having a Halloween themed weekend on Columbus Day Weekend (October 8-10) complete with a spook trail, mummy wrap, trick or treating, and a Halloween costume party with free hot dogs and more.
Tall Pines Campground Canoeing & Country Store, Bainbridge, provides two great Halloween Weekends during the first two weekends of October. The first weekend (Oct 2-3) is Howl-o-ween which is Halloween for Pets and People, and the second weekend (Oct 9-10) is Spooktacular Halloween & Murder Mystery. Howl-o-ween activities include costume parade, site decorating, face painting, trick or treat, tie dye, canoe trips, plaster crafts, ice cream social, sand art and games. Spooktacular Halloween & Murder Mystery has a dinner party and an interactive comedy murder mystery that is up to the campers to solve.
Beaver Spring Lake Campground, Davenport, combines Halloween festivities with Columbus Day celebrations (October 9-10). Some of the activities are Halloween crafts, ghost walks, stories, pumpkin decorating, trick or treat bingo and pumpkin bowling.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Danforth Bay Camping & RV Resort hosts 3 Halloween weekends. Oct 8-11, the first weekend sees a Halloween party complete with resort-wide trick-or-treating, a costume competition, site-decorating contest, and live entertainment. This particular weekend, you can also take advantage of the local fairs and the resort's heated pools. The next weekend, Oct 15-17, sees a pumpkin-carving party. You can get your own pumpkin or buy one from them. On Saturday, they'll light up all the jack-o-lanterns and award prizes. Trick or treating is done on the weekend of Oct 29-31.
NORTH CAROLINA
Located in Transylvania County, NC, Ash Grove Mountain Cabins & Camping, Brevard, becomes Ash Ghoul, the Haunted Campground on the Saturday of Halloween weekend (Oct 30-31). They offer a haunted trail, costume contest, cabin & campsite decorating contests, a bonfire event with tricks, treats, ghost stories and more. The nearby town of Brevard hosts HalloweenFest, including the Flight of the Vampires 5K race.
PENNSYLVANIA
Gettysburg Campground, Gettysburg, host three Halloween weekends on the following dates, Oct 15-17, Oct 22-24 and Oct 29-31. The activities include Maze of Doom (haunted house), pumpkin carving contests, pumpkin decorating contests, kids costume parade, kids and adult costume contests, trick-or-treating, and a Halloween dance.
RHODE ISLAND
Whispering Pines Campground, Hope Valley, will be hosting several Halloween events during the weekend of October 9-10 (Columbus Day Weekend) On Saturday, October 9 they offer many activities for children and adults throughout the day: complimentary crafts, Halloween Tattoo's, Pumpkin Painting. In the evening they hold their annual Haunted House which is visited each year by over 500 guests. On Sunday, October 10, the children will be led by guides around the campground for trick or treating. This will be followed by a Halloween Party where there will be games, activities, costume contests, cake and punch for all campers to enjoy. In addition, many of the seasonal campers will decorate their sites in the Halloween Spirit.
OHIO
Lock 30 Woodlands RV Resort, Lisbon, is set on a scenic designated riverfront that features a secluded, heavily wooded area of mature trees and isolated wilderness which serves as the perfect backdrop for Halloween weekend. That section of the campground, a 25 acre wildlife conservation corridor is completely away from all homes, farms, roadways or civilization. It really is deep woods camping! They'll be having a Halloween party on the weekend of October 22-24 that will feature a wine tasting event Friday night which precedes ghost stories around the bonfire. Saturday brings the hayrides, trick or treating, apple bobbing, mummy wrap, and an introduction to night time bocce under the lights. Campers can cook chickens on the spit and have a "cooking from the garden" side dish recipe contest. Contestants must take nature's bounty from either their garden or the campgrounds and turn it into a sweet or savory item to share. Among the prizes they'll give away: free camping, loads of firewood, and camping items from their store.
INDIANA
Wolfe's Leisure Time Campground, Lafayette's Halloween Weekend will be on October 22-23. Campers can participate in Pumpkin carving, Trick-or-Treating, "Spaghetti Dinner" & costume party. Get ready for a ghoulish good time!!
KENTUCKY
Ashland/Huntington West KOA, Argillite, is planning two weekends of fun, Oct 22-23 and Oct 29-30. Each weekend will include a site decorating contest, trick or treat opportunity, campfire stories (Halloween carnival, if needed inside), pumpkin decorating, and costume contest for the children, plus other activities in the works.
IOWA
Riverview Ridge Campgrounds and Recreation, Cascade, starts its Halloween festivities from October 8 weekend, and runs through the end of the month. The activities are: decorate your campsite for Halloween, pumpkin carving contest and a Haunted Forest that promises to be frightfully fun!
TEXAS
Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Hill Country, Canyon Lake, does two weekends of Fall Festival. They are very kid friendly, non-scary weekends that are a blast. They include magic pumpkin patches, best decorated site contests, camper trick or treating and much more. These weekends are October 8-9 and 29-30.
Seems as if the campgrounds have quite a gruesomely good time planned for their campers. So pack up those costumes and jack-o-lanterns and head off for some fun family Halloween camping!
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