Days until Halloween

Days until Halloween

The countdown uses your device’s date, so it is right in your time zone; on October 31 it says that Halloween is today. The calculator at the top counts the same days from today and adds the weeks and business days in between, which helps if you are planning around school or work.

Halloween always falls on October 31

Unlike Thanksgiving or Labor Day, Halloween is tied to a date, not to a weekday, so only the day of the week moves: each year it shifts by one weekday, and by two after February 29. In 2026 Halloween is a Saturday, which puts trick-or-treating on a weekend evening with no school the next morning. In 2027 it is a Sunday and in 2028 a Tuesday. The table above lists the weekday for the next ten years.

Halloween is not a federal holiday, and no state closes its offices for it. Schools stay open, though many hold costume parades during the day. When October 31 falls on a weekday, parties and trunk-or-treat events are often moved to the weekend before, while trick-or-treating itself usually stays on the 31st. Many towns publish official trick-or-treat hours, so check your local government’s page if you are not sure when it starts.

Halloween and the clock change

Daylight saving time in the United States ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November, a rule set in federal law. That Sunday can be as early as November 1, the day right after Halloween — as it is in 2026. Clocks go back one hour that night, so Halloween 2026 is followed by a 25-hour day, and sunset comes an hour earlier on the evening clock the following week. In 2027 the change falls on November 7, a week after Halloween. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time, so their clocks stay the same.

Planning for Halloween

Costumes and decorations ordered online need shipping time, so count back from the date above: with 23 days to go on October 8, standard shipping still arrives, but custom costumes may not. Pumpkins for carving keep best when bought whole and carved a few days before, rather than at the start of October. If you are planning a party for the weekend before Halloween, use the days between dates calculator to count from today to that Saturday; to find a date a set number of days ahead, the date calculator or 90 days from today. For the next holiday after Halloween, see when is Thanksgiving.