Half term is 26 to 30 October. Banbury Museum runs £4 crafts every weekday, Brickworks ends 1 November, and Upton House has £2 Halloween crafts.

October half term for Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington schools runs from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026, the dates set by Oxfordshire County Council. Banbury Museum has a £4 craft session every weekday that week, its LEGO exhibition closes on the last Sunday, and Upton House, seven miles north of town, runs £2 Halloween crafts every day.

The quick answer

Updated 23 October: Castle Quay now names the special guest at The Light’s Halloween party on Friday 30 October as Winnie the Witch. At the museum only Monday’s 10.30am session is sold out; every other session still had places this morning.

Updated 22 October: Monday’s 10.30am Halloween Lanterns session at Banbury Museum is sold out; the 1.30pm session and every other day still had places when we checked. The Mill’s Magic and Marvels (24 October) and Alice in Wonderland (31 October) both still show tickets.

Updated 20 October: added the Elite Youth Sports half term camp at The Bicester School, ages 5 to 13, listed by Bicester Town Council. The museum craft sessions are unchanged.

Updated 16 October: added Castle Quay’s half term programme: a family comedy show at Lock 29 on Saturday 24 October, and daily Halloween crafts at The Light with a party on Friday 30 October.

Updated 15 October: added The Mill’s Alice in Wonderland ballet on Saturday 31 October; the museum’s craft sessions are unchanged.

Updated 9 October: added Bicester Town Council’s Halloween Spooktacular at Garth Park on Friday 30 October.

  • Half term: Monday 26 to Friday 30 October. Several Banbury secondaries also close on Friday 23 October for INSET, and the two big independents break up a week earlier.
  • Cheapest thing on: Banbury Museum crafts, £4 a child, at 10.30am and 1.30pm every weekday. Booking is essential.
  • Last chance: Brickworks, the museum’s LEGO experience, ends on Sunday 1 November.

For pumpkin picking at Adderbury and Horley, and everything on Halloween itself, see our Banbury Halloween page.

Check your own school’s dates on our Banbury school term dates page before booking anything for the Friday before.

In Banbury town centre

Banbury Museum half term crafts, Monday 26 to Friday 30 October

A different make each day, at 10.30am and 1.30pm, for ages 3 and up, at £4.00 per child. Booking is essential, from the museum’s events page.

The museum is on Spiceball Park Road, OX16 2PQ. Entry to its permanent galleries is free, and it opens 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 3pm on Sunday, per its visitor page.

Brickworks at Banbury Museum, until Sunday 1 November

Brickworks fills the PYE Gallery with LEGO building stations, challenges, coding puzzles and models by local builders. It has run since July and closes on Sunday 1 November, the last day of half term.

  • Price: £4.00 for everyone aged 1 and over, including accompanying adults. Under-12-months and carers go free.
  • Sessions: three a day, 1 hour 30 minutes each, maximum 25 people.
  • The museum says it is “very busy” in school holidays and advises booking ahead.

The Mill Arts Centre

Three family shows sit around the half term week at The Mill, also on Spiceball Park Road:

  • Magic & Marvels, Saturday 24 October, 2.30pm. A one-man magic show, £16, running time 1 hour 50 minutes.
  • Hocus Pocus: Live Experience, Friday 30 October, 2.30pm. The Sanderson Sisters on stage, £16, age guidance 6+, with haze, flashing lights and “some ‘spooky’ elements”. There is £2.50 off when you book four or more.
  • Alice in Wonderland, Saturday 31 October, 11am and 1pm. The Let’s All Dance Ballet Company, £14, 40 minutes, all ages, with a photo opportunity with the dancers after each show. Babes in arms go free and there is £1.50 off when you book four or more.

Just after half term, Tall Stories’ Room on the Broom comes to The Mill on 7 and 8 November.

Castle Quay: Lock 29 and The Light

Castle Quay published its half term programme on 9 October. Two parts of it are new events:

  • Carl Carzana’s Muck Around Town, Saturday 24 October, 11am, at Lock 29, the food hall in Castle Quay. A new family comedy show with funny songs, puppets, games and drawing challenges, for ages 5 and up. Everyone needs a ticket except babies in arms under 2, who go free with a paying adult. Lock 29’s page links to Skiddle for booking.
  • Halloween crafts at The Light, the cinema, 11am to 3pm every day of half term: pipe cleaner spiders on Monday, cotton wool ghosts on Tuesday, spider web plates on Wednesday, witches’ hats on Thursday and pumpkin decorating on Saturday 31 October. On Friday 30 October, 3pm to 5pm, it holds a Halloween party on its Lower Decks, with games, prizes, a crafts table and a visit from Winnie the Witch. Come in costume.

Just outside town

Upton House, Halloween nature crafts

The National Trust’s Upton House, on the A422 seven miles north of Banbury (OX15 6HT), runs Halloween nature crafts from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, 11am to 2pm. Children make a bouncing bat, a leafy jack-o’-lantern and spider-web bunting.

  • Price: £2.00 per child on top of admission. No booking needed.
  • Admission: adult £18, child (5 to 17) £9, family £45, without Gift Aid. National Trust members free.
  • Hours that week: garden 10am to 5pm, house 11am to 3.30pm.

Upton is closed on Friday 16 October, the day the independent schools break up, and again on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 November while it puts up its Christmas displays.

Bicester: Halloween Spooktacular, Friday 30 October

Bicester Town Council’s Halloween Spooktacular is in Garth Park, Launton Road, OX26 6PS, on the last day of half term. Stalls run 3pm to 8pm and the trail 5pm to 8pm. Tickets are £4.50 a child, or three for £10 for the first 50 sold. There is a costume contest and a carved pumpkin competition, and the money goes to the Mayor’s charities.

Bicester: Elite Youth Sports camp, Monday 26 to Friday 30 October

For working parents, Bicester Town Council’s calendar lists an Elite Youth Sports half term camp at The Bicester School, Queens Avenue, OX26 2NS, all week. It is for children aged 5 to 13, with sports, games and some Halloween activities.

  • Times: 9am to 3.30pm, or an extended day from 8.30am to 5pm.
  • Offer: book all five days and pay for four.
  • Price: not given on the council’s listing; booking is on Elite Youth Sports’ Bicester camp page.

Fairytale Farm, Chipping Norton

Scarily Ever After runs from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November at Fairytale Farm, Southcombe, OX7 5QH. It is a puzzle trail with a Spellbook Passport, a pumpkin patch where every child gets a pumpkin, and a carving marquee. The farm says the daytime Halloween activities are included in a standard day ticket, with face painting extra.

The farm also opens every evening of half term for its illuminated evenings, and holds a ticketed Potions and Spells party on 30 and 31 October, with admission from 3pm and activities from 5pm to 7pm.

Either side of half term

  • After: Banbury has no bonfire night display this year, but Kidlington Fireworks Night is on Thursday 5 November. Details are on our Banbury fireworks page.

Getting there

The museum and The Mill are both a short walk from Castle Quay. For car parks and prices, see parking in Banbury, and check the Banbury roadworks page before driving out to Upton or Chipping Norton.

We will add more half term events as organisers publish them. If you are running one in Banbury, Bicester or Kidlington, tell us.