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Almaden Lake Park Halloween SPOOKtacular Night

Almaden Lake Park Halloween 2023Register now for Almaden Lake Park Halloween SPOOKtacular Night!

Registered participants will get to go trick-or-treating along the West Side park trail and visit different stations to take part in activities such as arts & crafts, games, face painting, and a photo area to show off your costume. Activities will be open for registered participants ages 3 to 12 only. Register Now and be entered in a drawing for a Halloween prize! Event is on first come first serve. After sunset, families will be able to enjoy a family friendly movie night featuring “Hocus Pocus.” No registration is required for movie night.

What: SPOOKtacular Night at Almaden Lake Park
When: Friday Oct. 27, 2023, 4:00 – 8:00 PM
Where: Almaden Lake Park, 15652 Almaden Expressway San Jose CA 95120
Cost: $8 resident, $12 non-resident

Click Here for more information and to register.

Offered by the City of San José Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services

Almaden Valley Halloween 2022

Almaden Valley Halloween 2022Trick or Treat? Halloween is here. Almaden residents, are you ready for the spirit of Halloween this year? If you are giving out candy, do consider putting yourself on the Nextdoor neighborhood treat map so the little tricksters don’t miss your home.

Almaden neighborhoods are promising to be spooktacular this weekend. In the Graystone neighborhood, look out for the Watanabe family’s Disney themed Halloween display, especially for the little ones; they will also be passing out allergy friendly treats. On Alston Way, the Miller family promises a frightful and ghoulish experience with their display of ‘Nightmare on Alston Way’.

Villagewood Way is hosting a neighborhood potluck block party on Monday, October 31st, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm with candy and a kid-friendly movie. All are welcome. The Almaden Neighborhood Church is organizing a “Trunk or Treat” on Sunday, October 30th, from 6pm-8pm. Participating families are invited to decorate the trunks of their cars and pass out candy in the church parking lot. This is a fun and free community event. For more information, visit: www.almadenchurch.org.

While you are enjoying the spirit of Halloween with your families and little ones, ensure a safe Halloween for everyone. Be especially careful with pets around pumpkins, candles and jack-o-lanterns. The San Jose Fire Department has put together a Halloween safety guide for those out celebrating. For information on these, visit: https://bit.ly/HalloweenSafetySJFD.

Post-Halloween, let’s all be mindful of the environment. The County of Santa Clara Household Hazardous Waste Program is offering free Halloween-related household hazardous waste disposal (HHW) by appointment. Please consider using their service for decorations with lights, electronics, batteries, and costumes with paint etc. Go to HHW.org or call 408-299-7300 to make a free drop-off appointment.

Happy Halloween 2022!

Halloween in Almaden 2021

Halloween Almaden 2021Happy Halloween, Almaden!

It is the most spooktacular time of the year! Ghosts, witches, jack-o-lanterns, and of course, mountains of candies. Halloween is here, and Almaden is a funtastic place to soak in some real scares.

This year some of our more ghoulish neighbors are hosting haunted houses that are definitely worth a visit. At David Vengerov’s home in the Montevideo neighborhood, this year’s theme is “Toy Factory”. Don’t forget to peek into the attached trailer at the property. Says David on his Nextdoor post, “the distinctive features of the house will be the “dynamic” scares.” Address: 1487 Montalban Drive.

Daniel Paulazzo of the Almaden Meadows also invites neighbors and Halloween fans to his haunted maze at “Deadmond Ave.” Address: 1394 Redmond Ave.

For Jamie Lee Miller’s family, Halloween is by far their favorite celebration. Miller promises tricks and treats and invites friends and neighbors to their ghostly display having spent “countless weeks on our family home making it a sight to see and experience to have with your friends/ family and kids”. Address: 1104 Allston Way

Beth Swartz of Glenview Serenity promises a fantastic display with some pop-up scares, skeletons and more! “This year we will have candy in individual bags and pop-up scares that kids can activate themselves. Please drop by our place on Halloween – 6pm – 9pm (or until the candy runs out!)” she says. Located on Corvallis Drive between Elwood and Glenview in Almaden.

For more locations of haunted houses and a quick look at streets to hit for candies and scares, visit: https://nextdoor.com/treat_map/?is=nav_bar

Halloween 2020 in Almaden Valley

Halloween 2020 in Almaden Valley Happy Halloween, Almaden residents! Even with a very challenging year with the pandemic, I am happy and excited to see that the celebratory spirit among our neighbors at Almaden is undaunted. Here’s how Halloween 2020 in Almaden Valley is being celebrated, with a spooky twist to the story.

Enthusiastic residents from various neighborhoods of Almaden are buzzing with ideas about how to enjoy Halloween safely, following all social distancing norms and Santa Clara County health guidelines (see country health guidelines for Halloween and Diá de los Muertos here: www.sccgov.org/cv19halloween). Simon Aslanpour, a resident of the Almaden Mockingbird neighborhood says in his Nextdoor post, “We are not going to take away the tradition of trick or treating in the neighborhood this year because of this pandemic. We will do it safely and follow the guidelines of Santa Clara county.”

Others like Michael Harding of Almaden Williams will have a “candy chute and skeleton arms for 6ft of social distance and extra Halloween fun” between 6 and 8 pm tonight. In the Glenview Serenity neighborhood, Michelle Watanabe says, “The ‘Disney House’ on Bret Harte Drive near Graystone Elementary School will be open as well. We will have one direction foot traffic, social distancing, masks and sanitized candy bags for the kids to pick up. The theme this year is Tangled so nothing scary for the little ones.” Many other residents are also offering bagged candy.

One of the most popular haunted house displays in Almaden attracting huge crowds has been the Haunted Graveyard on Little Falls Drive. Don McNally, who has been painstakingly hosting this for years, writes that he “did not want to ‘cancel’ the Halloween spirit, especially given these stressful times.” To adhere to social distancing norms, he will have an all projection/hologram display this year, “with the same intent to delight 5-year-old’s and terrify ‘kids’ over 35!”

The other street attracting huge crowds normally is Chateau Drive, which will be a bit low key this year. Janice LaVelle, writes of how she started her scary “haunted front yard” tradition 30 years ago for their own children. “The spirit soon caught quickly on Chateau, making our street the ‘BOO’ street for decades,” she writes. Micki Karrer, another resident of Chateau Drive, has been serving beverages to adult trick-or-treaters for years. This year, however, they are staying away from displays to keep everyone safe.

For those of you who intend to drive through Almaden’s neighborhoods tonight, there will still be jack-o-lantern displays and haunted yard decors to admire. Check out the Nextdoor treat map for Almaden Halloween 2020 here: https://nextdoor.com/treat_map/ for exact locations.

Halloween in Almaden Valley

Halloween in Almaden ValleyIt’s time again for Halloween in Almaden Valley! Carving Jack-o-lanterns, turning your yard into a graveyard, trick-or-treating with kids, enjoying a costume party – whichever way you choose to celebrate, it is time to dress in your spookiest best and hop out to stir the cauldrons. And Almaden Valley is certainly a spooky place to be on Halloween night! Here are some fun neighborhoods to stroll around during Halloween in Almaden Valley.

Neighborhoods with Haunted Houses
Many residents are hosting haunted houses with fabulous displays of the spooky, gory and the macabre. You can visit haunted houses on Calcatera Drive, Azalea Drive, Shearwater Drive, Lillian Way, Medallion Drive, Redmond Avenue, Monteval Lane, Via Del Los Grande, and last but not least, at the end of Little Falls Drive. This last one is particularly spectacular and not to be missed. Expect to find lots of people thronging the street, but it is worth braving the crowds.

Allergy-free Treats
This year several residents are passing out allergy-free treats so that all kids can enjoy Halloween. They can be found on Hampton Drive, Casual Way, Portswood Drive, Crimson Drive, Burchell Avenue, Franciscan Way, Montalban Drive and Montellano Drive. For accurate addresses, check the Almaden area treat map on Nextdoor.com.

Happy trick-or-treating, and have a great Halloween!

Almaden Halloween Haunts

Pumpkin patches, haunted houses, costume parties and great neighborhoods for trick-or-treating. It’s Halloween, and Almaden Valley is abuzz with festive spirit. Here’s what is haunting the neighborhoods this week.

Castillero’s Cobra Crypt: This year, Almaden’s Castillero Middle School’s Drama Department has started a new Halloween tradition. It’s hosting the “Cobra Crypt”, a week-long Halloween fest that includes a pumpkin patch, haunted house, carnival, games and a variety of activities. The fest is every day from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm till October 31st. Tickets are $5. This is Castillero Drama’s biggest fundraiser, and by all neighborhood accounts, not to be missed.

Halloween Britannia Arms AlmadenThe Simpson’s Halloween at the Britannia Arms: On October 30th, at 7:30 pm at the Britannia Arms, you can enjoy a Simpson’s themed Halloween event. There will be a costume contest, Simpson’s trivia, special food and drinks, and more.

Neighborhood trick-or-treats: Almaden Valley boasts some of the best trick or treating neighborhoods in San Jose. Attractive areas include Chateau Drive and the Country Club neighborhood, the Pierce Ranch neighborhood, and the Graystone neighborhood, among others. The biggest attraction might be at Little Falls Drive in the Country Club neighborhood, which draws huge crowds for the spooky haunted house display at the end of the street. Venturing there is well worth it, and give yourselves ample time to park and stroll through the streets.

Happy Halloween!

An Almaden Valley Halloween: In Search of the Perfect Scare

Almaden Valley HalloweenAn Almaden Valley Halloween … Are pumpkin patches or trick or treating down the block during Halloween too tame for you? If you have a taste for the gothic, maybe a trip to a haunted house in search of ghosts is just the thing for you.

In the South Bay, near Almaden Valley, the most legendary and elaborate haunted house attraction is, without a doubt, the Winchester Mystery House. Up until Halloween night, visitors can enjoy Candlelight tours through 110 rooms of the massive estate. Tickets are available online or at the door. http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

A bit closer to home, there are a number of other chilling attractions certain to give you a scare, but you may want to check out their websites before taking small children:

⇒ The Bernal Scream: Westfield Oakridge mall http://www.thebernalscream.com/

⇒ Dead Time Dreams Haunted Attractions: 2501 Tully Rd. at East Capitol Expressway http://www.deadtimedreams.com/

⇒ Rebel Yell: 1577 Rebel Way, San Jose http://www.rebelyell.info/rebelyell.html

⇒ World’s Largest Haunted House: County Fairgrounds, 344 Tully Rd., San Jose http://www.worldslargesthauntedhouse.com/

When you’ve had your fill of haunted houses and are ready to look for the real thing, give me a call!

Happy haunting!

Almaden Community Center 2010 Halloween Party – UPDATED 2022

Image: Child Halloween DrawingA safe and fun Halloween party in Almaden Valley for kids ages 4-7. Children should go in costume. They will enjoy food, games, crafts, and stories.

The party is at the Almaden Community Center on Friday, October 29, 2010, from 5pm to 7pm. The price is $21 per child for San Jose residents, and $25 for non-residents. You can register your child online. [EVENT IS CLOSED]

Do you know of any other events or activities happening in Almaden Valley for Halloween? If so, we’d like to know. Send us an email, submit the form, or tell us about it in the comments to this post.