Halloween 2026 in Canada: Saturday Night Trick-or-Treating

Halloween dates for the next five years

Halloween never moves: it is always October 31. What changes is the day of the week, and that shapes the evening more than anything else. On a school night, most trick-or-treating is squeezed between supper and bedtime; on a Friday or Saturday, as in 2026, it tends to start earlier and run later, and many parties move to the same night instead of the weekend before.

Is Halloween a holiday?

No. Halloween is not a statutory or general holiday anywhere in Canada, federally or in any province or territory. Shops, banks, government offices and Canada Post keep their normal hours. When October 31 falls on a weekday, schools and workplaces are open as usual, although many schools hold costume parades during the day.

The next holiday on the calendar is Remembrance Day, November 11, which is a paid holiday in some provinces and not others. See Remembrance Day 2026 and the full list of statutory holidays by province.

The clocks fall back on Halloween night

In 2026, daylight saving time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, 2026 in the provinces that still change their clocks, a few hours after the last trick-or-treaters go home.

• Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and most of Nunavut: clocks go back one hour overnight. Halloween night is an hour longer, and parties that run past 2:00 a.m. get that hour twice.
• British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Yukon: no change this year. Clocks stay where they are.

The fall-back does not change how dark it is on Halloween evening itself; it only makes the following evenings darker an hour earlier. Details for every province are on the daylight saving time page.

When it gets dark on October 31, 2026

Most families start trick-or-treating around sunset. These are approximate times for Saturday, October 31, 2026, in local time. "Dark" is the end of civil twilight, when streetlights and flashlights become necessary.

Times are calculated from the sun's position and are accurate to within a couple of minutes. Cloud cover makes it feel darker sooner, and in Canada at the end of October it can also be cold, wet or snowy: plan costumes that fit over a warm layer.

Trick-or-treat hours

There is no national or provincial rule for trick-or-treating hours. The common custom is to go to homes with a porch light on or a decorated door, and to stop when the lights go off. A handful of municipalities publish suggested hours or a by-law; if your town does, it will be on the municipality's own website. Many towns, malls and community centres also run indoor or "trunk-or-treat" events earlier in the evening for younger children.

If you are handing out treats, turning your outside light off is the usual signal that you have run out or are done for the night.

Costume and decoration safety

Health Canada's Halloween advice starts with the costume:

• Check for recalls. Costumes, accessories and decorations, including string lights, can be checked in the Government of Canada recalls and safety alerts database.
• Avoid fire risks. Flowing skirts, capes, baggy sleeves and loose accessories such as beards, wigs and feathers can catch fire from a candle in a jack-o'-lantern. Nylon or heavyweight polyester may be safer fabrics.
• Prevent trips. Make sure costumes are not so long or baggy that a child could trip.
• Prefer makeup to masks, which can block vision or make breathing harder. Patch-test face paint first: products labelled "hypoallergenic" can still cause reactions.
• Use LED lights in pumpkins and decorations instead of open flames, and keep candles, matches and lighters out of children's reach.

Treat safety and allergies

• Have an adult check treats before anything is eaten, and throw out anything that is not commercially wrapped or has torn or loose packaging.
• Remove choking hazards such as gum, peanuts, hard candy and small toys from young children's bags; children under three should not have toys with small parts.
• For food allergies, choose treats with a clear ingredient list and avoid those with no list or with "may contain" warnings. Stickers, glow sticks and other non-food treats are a safe option for everyone.
• A child who has been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector should carry it whenever they are eating Halloween candy.
• Have children wash their hands before opening their candy.

Copycat cannabis edibles

Health Canada has warned that illegal cannabis edibles are made to look like popular candies and snacks and can contain large amounts of THC; children who ate them have been hospitalized. Legal edible cannabis in Canada is limited to 10 mg of THC per package and is sold in plain, child-resistant packaging with a yellow health warning, the cannabis symbol and an excise stamp. Anyone who keeps cannabis at home should store it locked away from children and separate from food. If a child may have eaten cannabis, call 911 or your regional poison centre.

Staying visible on the street

• Give each child a flashlight and add reflective tape to costumes and bags; bright colours are easier for drivers to see.
• Stay in well-lit areas and only visit homes with outside lights on.
• Remind children never to go inside a home or a car, even if invited.
• Drivers: slow down in residential streets between late afternoon and mid-evening, and watch for children crossing between parked cars.

Halloween in numbers

Statistics Canada counted more than 11,000 acres of pumpkin patches in the 2021 Census of Agriculture, and estimated 4.1 million children aged 5 to 14, the prime trick-or-treating age, in July 2021.

Where Halloween comes from

The name is a shortening of "All Hallows' Eve", the night before All Saints' Day on November 1 in the Christian calendar. Many of the customs are older and are linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the start of winter. Scottish and Irish immigrants brought traditions such as dressing up and going door to door ("guising") to North America in the 1800s, and the carved pumpkin replaced the turnips and other root vegetables carved in Britain and Ireland.

In Quebec and francophone communities, children ask for treats with "Halloween!" or "Des bonbons, s'il vous plaît!", and the day after Halloween, November 1, is All Saints' Day (la Toussaint).