Boo at Bellingrath Returns for Halloween 2023 With Trick-or-Treating and Outdoor Movie

One of the Mobile area’s biggest Halloween traditions is back. “Boo at Bellingrath” returns to Bellingrath Gardens and Home on Saturday, Oct. 28, bringing trick-or-treating, costumed fun, and an outdoor movie to the Theodore attraction at 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road. The event has become a fixture on the Gulf Coast’s fall calendar, drawing families from across Mobile County and Baldwin County for an afternoon of Halloween activities set among the gardens’ live oaks, camellias and seasonal displays. Organizers stage the celebration on the grounds of one of the region’s most visited attractions, giving children a chance to collect candy in a setting that is safer and more contained than neighborhood door-to-door routes.

Guests of all ages can collect treats from businesses and organizations stationed around the gardens from 1 to 6 p.m. Local companies, civic groups and community organizations set up stations along the garden paths, handing out candy and goodies to costumed children as they make their way through the grounds. The station format lets families move at their own pace, and it spreads visitors across the property rather than concentrating them in a single area. Staff and volunteers are positioned throughout the gardens to direct guests and answer questions during the trick-or-treating window.

When the sun goes down, the movie “Halloweentown” screens outdoors beginning at 6:30 p.m. The family-friendly film closes out the evening on the garden grounds, and guests are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs for the outdoor showing. The combination of daytime trick-or-treating and an evening movie makes the event a full-day outing for families, and it has helped the gathering grow into one of the larger Halloween celebrations in the Mobile area year after year.

Tickets and Season Highlights

Admission is $18 for adults and $12 for children ages 5 to 12. Tickets cover access to the gardens and the day’s Halloween activities, including the trick-or-treating stations and the evening movie screening. Visitors are advised to review the gardens’ hours and event details before arriving, since special events can affect parking and entry flow at the 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road entrance. Families planning to attend both the afternoon activities and the movie can plan for a stay that stretches from early afternoon until well after dark.

The event overlaps with “Scarecrows in the Garden,” an exhibit of handmade scarecrows displayed throughout the grounds that runs through Oct. 31. The scarecrow exhibit fills the garden paths with creative, hand-built figures contributed by local groups, businesses and garden supporters, and it gives visitors a second seasonal draw during the same visit. Guests walking between trick-or-treating stations pass the scarecrow displays along the way, and the exhibit remains up through the end of October for those who want to return for another look after the Halloween event concludes.

A Busy Stretch for the Gardens

“Boo at Bellingrath” kicks off a busy stretch for the gardens. The 60th Annual Fall Outdoor Cascading Chrysanthemums display opens Nov. 1 and runs through Nov. 30, transforming the grounds with thousands of chrysanthemums arranged in the cascading style that has made the autumn exhibit a signature attraction. The mums display draws visitors from across the Gulf Coast each November and marks the seasonal transition from Halloween programming to the gardens’ holiday season. Garden staff spend weeks preparing the displays, and the exhibit typically peaks in color during the middle weeks of November.

After the chrysanthemums come the holidays. Magic Christmas in Lights returns Nov. 24, glowing nightly through Jan. 3. The holiday light display is the gardens’ longest-running seasonal event, turning the grounds into an after-dark walk-through experience with lighted scenes set among the oaks and along the water features. The back-to-back schedule means visitors who come for Halloween programming in late October can return within weeks for the mums, and again after Thanksgiving for the lights, making the attraction a three-season destination in a single visit cycle.

The stretch of events also underscores the role Bellingrath Gardens and Home plays in the regional tourism economy. The Theodore attraction sits just off the corridor that connects Mobile to the Alabama Gulf Coast, and its fall and holiday events draw day-trippers from Mobile, Baldwin County, and communities along the Mississippi state line, along with overnight visitors who add the gardens to Gulf Coast trips. Local hotels and restaurants in the Theodore and Tillmans Corner areas typically see steady traffic on event days, and the gardens’ calendar gives families a reliable rotation of outings from October through early January.

What Families Can Expect on Event Day

Visitors arriving for the Oct. 28 event should plan for an afternoon-to-evening schedule. The trick-or-treating stations open at 1 p.m. and close at 6 p.m., which gives families a five-hour window to work through the candy stops scattered around the grounds. Because the stations are operated by individual businesses and organizations, the variety of treats changes from stop to stop, and children in costume are the focus of the afternoon. Guests who want the movie seating closest to the screen generally settle in before the 6:30 p.m. start, since the outdoor showing draws the largest crowd once darkness settles over the gardens.

The gardens’ landscape shapes how the event unfolds. Paths wind past the bayou, through rose and camellia plantings, and across lawn areas where the scarecrow figures stand, so families get a walking tour of the property while they collect candy. October is one of the milder months on the Alabama coast, and the late-afternoon hours usually bring comfortable temperatures for an event that keeps guests outdoors for five hours or more. Comfortable shoes are a practical necessity given the amount of walking involved between stations and the movie area.

Staffing for a one-day event of this scale comes together from several directions. Garden horticulture crews handle the grounds, event staff manage admission and guest flow, and the participating businesses and organizations supply the volunteers who staff the candy stations. The setup reflects the way the gardens operate year-round, layering community partnerships on top of the horticultural work that keeps the displays in shape through the fall.

The Scarecrow Exhibit’s Role in the Season

The “Scarecrows in the Garden” exhibit running through Oct. 31 gives the Halloween event a backdrop that changes from year to year. Because the scarecrows are handmade and contributed by local participants, no two seasons look alike, and returning visitors often seek out favorite entries from past years alongside new creations. The exhibit has become a signature part of the gardens’ fall presentation, appearing along walkways where guests naturally pass during “Boo at Bellingrath” and on ordinary daytime visits through the end of the month.

The overlap is deliberate. A family that buys admission for the Halloween event sees the scarecrow exhibit at no additional cost, and anyone who cannot attend Oct. 28 still has the rest of the month to catch the display. That arrangement stretches the value of a single admission across the whole season and keeps the gardens active on weekdays between the two weekend-oriented events.

Planning Ahead for the Chrysanthemum and Christmas Seasons

The 60th Annual Fall Outdoor Cascading Chrysanthemums display opens Nov. 1, the day after the Halloween event’s scarecrow exhibit closes, keeping the gardens in continuous seasonal programming. The cascading mum display has run for six decades, and its longevity has made it a point of regional pride — generations of Gulf Coast families have made an autumn visit to see the flowers part of their yearly routine. The display runs the full month of November, giving visitors flexibility to choose a date around school schedules and holiday travel.

Magic Christmas in Lights follows on Nov. 24 and runs nightly through Jan. 3, carrying the gardens through the holiday season and into the new year. The night-only format makes it a different experience from the daytime fall events: guests walk the grounds after dark, when the lighted displays define the scenery. Together, the three events — Halloween, chrysanthemums, and Christmas lights — span more than three months of programming and give the Theodore attraction one of the longest continuous event seasons of any venue in southwest Alabama.

Ticketed visitors can keep an eye on the gardens’ announcements for details on each event as the dates approach. Between the Oct. 28 Halloween celebration, the November mum display, and the late-November start of the Christmas lights, Bellingrath Gardens and Home will remain one of the busiest destinations in the Mobile area through the end of the year, and “Boo at Bellingrath” marks the point where that busy stretch begins.

A Tradition Rooted in the Gulf Coast Calendar

Events like “Boo at Bellingrath” fill a particular slot in the Gulf Coast’s fall calendar. The region’s warm climate keeps outdoor programming viable well into the fall, and communities from Mobile to Gulf Shores take advantage of it with festivals, botanical garden events and holiday celebrations that would be impractical in colder parts of the country in late October and November. The gardens’ position south of Mobile, near the waterways that connect the area to Mobile Bay and the Gulf, makes it an easy drive for families across the metro area and an anchor stop for visitors touring the coastal corridor.

The Theodore location also places the gardens within reach of the growing communities along U.S. 90 and the I-10 corridor. Families from Tillmans Corner, Grand Bay, Irvington and other southern Mobile County communities can reach the entrance in a short drive, while visitors coming from downtown Mobile or from Baldwin County across the bay find the trip manageable for a half-day outing. That accessibility has been part of the event’s growth: a Halloween program that once served mostly nearby residents now draws from across two counties.

How the Event Fits the Gardens’ Mission

The gardens have long operated as both a horticultural attraction and a community gathering place, and seasonal events like this one serve the second role. Opening the grounds for a Halloween celebration introduces families who might not otherwise visit to the property, and many first-time guests return for the chrysanthemum display or the Christmas lights later in the season. The cycle of events functions as a year-round introduction to the gardens, with each season showcasing a different side of the property.

The participation of local businesses and organizations in the trick-or-treating stations reflects the same community orientation. Instead of a closed commercial operation, the event turns the candy stops over to local groups, which get direct contact with hundreds of visiting families in a single afternoon. The arrangement benefits everyone involved: children get a varied and safe trick-or-treating route, the organizations get visibility, and the gardens get a community-supported event that does not depend entirely on their own staffing.

The Rest of the Fall on the Alabama Gulf Coast

The gardens’ busy stretch coincides with a wider fall season across coastal Alabama. October and November bring a run of festivals and outdoor events across Mobile and Baldwin counties, from downtown Mobile’s autumn calendar to the beach communities’ fall events, and the gardens’ Halloween, chrysanthemum and Christmas programming plugs into that broader schedule. For residents, it means a stretch of weekends with more options than any single family can use; for the region’s tourism sector, it extends the traditional beach season into a longer coastal travel year.

Bellingrath’s role in that ecosystem is distinct. While the beaches draw visitors for sand and water, the gardens offer a land-based attraction that performs well in the shoulder season, and its event calendar gives inland visitors a reason to head south in months when the beach loses some of its pull. The 60-year run of the chrysanthemum display and the decades-long Christmas light tradition show how a single attraction can build event franchises that anchor a region’s seasonal travel patterns.

Saturday, Oct. 28 marks the start of that run this year. Families who attend “Boo at Bellingrath” will see the gardens at the opening of their fall season, with the scarecrows on display, the mums days away from opening, and the Christmas lights waiting just beyond. The event runs 1 to 6 p.m. for trick-or-treating, with “Halloweentown” screening at 6:30 p.m., at 12401 Bellingrath Gardens Road in Theodore. Admission is $18 for adults and $12 for children ages 5 to 12, and guests of all ages are welcome.