Michigan Travel · Ann Arbor
Things to do in Ann Arbor this weekend: Pumpkins at Matthaei and Buhr Park’s Boo Bash
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Fall programming for families fills the weekend, from a ticketed evening at Matthaei Botanical Gardens to a free afternoon Boo Bash at Buhr Park and a costume swap downtown.
Pumpkins, Lanterns and Leaves. Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 1800 N. Dixboro Road, runs the event at Gaffield Children’s Garden from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, and Saturday, Oct. 17, the gardens say. The gardens aim the evening at kids ages 4 to 10, with adults welcome as chaperones. Listings include donuts and cider from Washtenaw Dairy, light spinning, a shadow puppet show, youth education activities, a lantern craft, a jack-o’-lantern trail and a Parade of Lights. Tickets are $20 per person; everyone older than 2 needs a ticket, including chaperones. Details and tickets are at mbgna.umich.edu.
Buhr Park Boo Bash. Buhr Park, 2751 Packard Road, hosts a free family Halloween afternoon from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, according to the city’s event calendar as listed on TownBuzz. The listing describes inflatables, face painting, crafts, games, a costume contest and food for purchase from vendors including Impasto and Washtenaw Dairy.
Halloween Costume Swap. The Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown branch, 343 S. Fifth Ave., holds a free costume swap from 11 a.m. to noon Sunday, Oct. 18, in the Lower Level Program Room. You do not need to donate a costume to pick one up; drop-offs were accepted through Oct. 11, the library says.
Check each organizer’s page before you go for ticket availability, weather cancellations or schedule changes.
Sources:
Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum, “Pumpkins, Lanterns, and Leaves,” accessed Oct. 15, 2026, https://mbgna.umich.edu/event/pumpkins-lanterns-leaves
Ann Arbor District Library, “Halloween Costume Swap,” Oct. 18, 2026, https://aadl.org/node/664217
TownBuzz (Ann Arbor city calendar), “Boo Bash” at Buhr Park, Oct. 18, 2026, https://townbuzz.app/event/5c519df9-22c4-4051-b5bb-0400072a6a53
Photo: Dwight Burdette, “Buhr Park Children's Playground.JPG,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buhr_Park_Children%27s_Playground.JPG
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