Halloween in Amstelveen

Carved pumpkins, secret maps and a church that becomes a ballroom: this is how Amstelveen does Halloween.

The evenings are drawing in and pumpkins are popping up on doorsteps all over town. Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October this year, and Amstelveen celebrates all weekend, with a head start at Elsenhove on Sunday 25 October. Think pumpkin carving, a trick-or-treat trail and a wave pool turned disco. Got your costume ready?

Can't wait until the 31st? Speelboerderij Elsenhove, the children's farm on the edge of the Amsterdamse Bos, gets the party started a week early. Kids carve their own pumpkin, stir up a bubbling witch's potion and then brave the haunted house. It's spooky, but cosy enough for most little ghosts. Places are limited and it's first come, first served, so don't leave it until the last minute.

Pick a pumpkin, grab a spoon and get carving. Over Halloween weekend, the Pluktuin in Nes aan de Amstel serves up an extra helping of spooky fun, with outdoor crafts and staff dressed in their eeriest outfits. You might even bump into a real witch. Show her your finished pumpkin and you'll go home with an official witch's diploma. Little ones in costume are more than welcome, and so are their parents.

Ever been trick or treating in your own street? On Halloween evening, families all over Amstelveen open their doors to little witches, skeletons and superheroes. Households sign up in advance and split into two teams: one hands out sweets at a decorated front door, the other follows a secret map to all the participating addresses. The map arrives by email on Friday 30 October. Can't be home all evening? Leave a bowl of wrapped treats on the doorstep.

Halloween night, but make it splashy. From 18:00, the wave pool at De Meerkamp turns into a spooky pool disco, with music, waves and plenty of room to dance in the water. Kids up to 12 are welcome, and costumes are encouraged – as long as they can get wet. Children without an A-diploma, the Dutch basic swimming certificate, need to swim with an adult aged 18 or over.

Strictly no humans allowed. That's the dress code at Hunkering, a Halloween dinner and ball inside the Annakerk on the Amsterdamseweg. The evening opens with a three-course dinner by candlelight, served at one long table for 80 guests. From 20:00, around 400 more creatures arrive for the party. At 23:00 the doors close and a secret welcome ritual begins, set to a steady 126 beats per minute. What happens next? The organisers are keeping that to themselves.

Tip: Come in full costume, and make sure you're inside before 23:00 – after that, entry closes.

Vampire, zombie or something nobody has thought of yet? For the Halloween edition of VIBES, P60 in the Stadshart fills up with costumed party-goers, spooky decorations and the hits everyone knows by heart. Sing along, dance until just before midnight and keep an eye out for a few surprises along the way. The scariest, funniest and most original outfits steal the show, but any costume will do.