Home ManhattanFamily-Friendly Events in and Around NYC 2026

Family-Friendly Events in and Around NYC 2026

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Día de Muertos, otherwise known as “The Day of the Dead,” is a cultural holiday known for honoring and celebrating ancestors and those we have lost. Check out the following list of family-friendly Día de Muertos events in and around NYC!

Psst…Check out Fun Family Pop-Ups in NYC This October

New York City

Manhattan

Family Artmaking Workshop with Andrea Arroyo

Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, 898 St. Nicholas Ave., Sugar Hill
Sunday, Oct. 25, 11 am – 1 pm
All ages
Free

Join artist Andrea Arroyo for a family artmaking workshop celebrating Day of the Dead through art, memory, and community! Help create a community Day of the Dead altar and participatory installation at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum!

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green, Financial District
Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 am – 4 pm
All ages
Free

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a time for honoring the cycle of life, and remembering our ancestors and those who have gone before us. Learn about the ofrenda (altar) and commemorate a loved one who has passed by leaving a photo or memento. Families can enjoy coloring activities and making paper marigolds and masks. Visitors of all ages can enjoy traditional dance performances by New York-based Aztec dance group Cetiliztli Nauhcampa. 

Día de Muertos

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 131 E 10th St., East Village
Saturday, Oct. 31, noon – 5 pm
All ages
Free

Celebrate vibrant Día de Muertos traditions by bringing copies of your photos, notes, and letters to honor and cherish memories of your loved ones. Come together to create a beautiful Ofrenda (Altar) and share in this meaningful celebration. 

Coco

Rooftop Cinema Club New York City, 60 W 37th St 3rd Floor, Midtown
Sunday, Nov. 1, 2 pm
All ages
$12.50 – $27

Join this special screening of Disney and Pixar’s Coco, with a meet and greet with Miguel and hands-on crafts before the film. 

Día de Muertos Celebration

David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, 61 W 62nd St., Lincoln Square
Sunday, Nov. 1, 6 pm
All ages
Free

Join in creating a community ofrenda (“offering”) in collaboration with Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders by bringing copies of photographs, notes, and letters to honor your loved ones throughout this celebration. The night will feature a performance by Guachinangos. The unique sound of Guachinangos is born in Mexico from folk roots and has manifested in the diaspora, with an exciting presentation and electrifying instrumentation of son jarocho, cumbia, champeta, rancheras, and other rhythms of Latin America. Through music and dance, this group transmits stories of the many maestros who have kept these traditions alive in Mexico and beyond. Guachinangos is presented in collaboration with México Now Festival, New York City’s first and only independent festival spotlighting contemporary Mexican art and culture.

Bronx

Día de los Muertos at NYBG

New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx Park
Tuesdays – Sundays, 10 am – 6 pm, through Nov. 2
All ages
Included with admission: $15 – $39
Día de los Muertos Parade, Sunday, November 1, 2 pm

With vibrant marigold blooms and a colorful community ofrenda, the rich traditions of Día de los Muertos come to the garden for a celebration of memory, life, and renewal—new this year at NYBG. Friendly spirit guides lead the way to joyful encounters with artfully arranged calaveras and a larger-than-life Catrina adorned with colorful flowers. Celebrate loved ones with music and crafts on weekends, while experiencing joyful moments of reflection among fall’s golden foliage and festive pumpkins. 

Family Art Project: Day of the Dead

Wave Hill, 675 W 252nd St., Riverdale
Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, Saturday and Sunday, 10 am – 1 pm
All ages
Included with admission: $4 – $10

Explore and create nicho boxes, small shadow boxes filled with meaning and purpose that honor a lost loved one. 

Family Time Día de Muertos 2026

The Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse, Concourse
Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 – 3 pm
All ages
Free

Connect with your family, friends, neighbors, and ancestors through art-making and sharing of stories and memories at this all-ages celebration honoring Día de Muertos! Artist Marco Saavedra will lead an art-making activity inspired by the holiday that encourages participants to contribute to a site-specific, communal altar installation.

Brooklyn

Casa Cultural Presents Celebrate Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos, McDonald Ave. & Church Ave., Kensington
Saturday, Oct. 24, 1 – 6 pm
All ages
Free

Bring the family out for a parade de las Catrinas, community arts activities, music and dance performances, engagements with community groups, and more! The afternoon kicks off with the festive puppet parade. Families can enjoy hands-on art making, face painting, books, food, raffles and giveaways, and contribute a photo to the event’s centerpiece—a communal ofrenda. 

Día De Los Muertos Desifile Y Festival

59th St. and 5th Ave., Sunset Park
Sunday, Oct. 25, noon
All ages
Free

This Day of the Dead Parade brings together families, artists, organizations, cultural groups, and communities to honor loved ones, and pass this important tradition on to new generations. 

Día de Los Muertos Celebration

Brooklyn Army Terminal, 140 58th St., Sunset Park
Saturday, Oct. 31, 11 am – 4 pm
All ages
Free

Come together to remember and honor loved ones, with a communal ofrenda, crafts table, face painting, live music and performances.

Day of the Dead Family Celebration

Green-Wood, 500 25th St., Greenwood Heights
Monday, Nov. 2, 4 – 7 pm
All ages
Free

Discover the rich history and traditions associated with the holiday Día de Muertos through family-friendly crafts, performances, music, and hands-on activities.

Celebrate Día de los Muertos

Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., Crown Heights
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 am – 5 pm
All ages
$15

Honor ancestors and celebrate their memories through the traditions of Día de los Muertos! Experience Mexican folkloric dance, create Guatemalan giant kites, enjoy bilingual puppet shows, and share memories at our community ofrenda. 

Queens

LaGuardia’s Día de los Muertos Celebration

LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Ave., Long Island City
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 4 – 6 pm
All ages
Free

Celebrate culture and community with your neighbors, block party style! Come together to honor the rich traditions of Día de los Muertos, celebrate the diverse community, and enjoy an afternoon of music, entertainment, treats, and family-friendly fun.

Queens Zoo Dia de los Muertos

Queens Zoo, 53-51 111th St., Corona
Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, Saturday and Sunday, 11 am – 4 pm
All ages
$7.95 – $10.95

Join the Zoo for a Dia de los Muertos celebration where families, friends, and the community come together to learn about extinct animal species and celebrate Latin American cultures. Families will enjoy Wildlife Theater shows: The Tale De Lose Animals Who Are No More, puppet meet & greets, face painting, crafts, animal meet & greets, a Zoo Ofrenda at the Farm, to honor the “animal ancestors” who have become extinct, story time, educational and Halloween games, and keeper chats.

Day of the Dead Celebration featuring Mariachi Real de Mexico

Oak Ridge in Forest Park, 1 Forest Pkwy., Woodhaven
Sunday, Nov. 1, 3 – 4 pm
All ages
Free

See the community Ofrenda, enjoy face painting and children’s crafts presented by teaching artists from Queens College, and a special performance by GRAMMY winners Mariachi Real De Mexico.

Day of the Dead 2026

Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria
Sunday, Nov. 1, 4 pm
All ages
Free

Celebrate a vibrant and authentic Day of the Dead at Museum of the Moving Image with a performance of Aztec Mexica dance, fun digital media activities for kids and families, music from the Indigenous dance troupe Yayauhki Tezcatlipoka, and the Mexican Folkloric Ballet of New York. Historical characters from Día de Muertos will also inspire a free face-painting session. All are welcome to explore the ofrenda, a public altar, presented by the artist and historian Rosa Ruíz and Catrinamía.

Long Island

Disney Pixar’s COCO Live-to-film Concert

Staller Center For the Arts, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook
Friday, Oct. 30, 6:30 pm
All ages
$26 – $41

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos with a screening of the complete film with Oscar® and Grammy®-winning composer Michael Giacchino’s musical score performed by the 20-member Orquesta Folclórica Nacional de México. Experience the beloved Disney and Pixar film Coco like never before in this vibrant concert presentation from Disney Concerts and AMP! As the full movie plays on the big screen, you’ll hear Giacchino’s Academy Award®-winning score live, bringing the story’s rich musical world to life. 

Dia de los Muertos

Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Ave., Garden City
Sunday, Nov. 1, 11 am – 2 pm
Ages 10 and younger
$18

Learn about the tradition of Dia de los Muertos and create your own crafts to celebrate ancestors, life and family! Decorate a memory jar to take home to capture the memories of ancestors and loved ones who are no longer with us, have your face painted as a happy skeleton, help decorate LICM’s Ofrenda with crafts, and more.

Día de los Muertos Family Celebration

Heckscher Museum of Art, 2 Prime Ave., Huntington
Sunday, Nov. 1, noon – 5 pm
All ages
Free

Families are invited to celebrate and learn about how this holiday is celebrated around the world. Meet and create works of art inspired by this celebration with artists Filiberto Perez-Mendoza, who will be designing this year’s ofrenda, as well as artists Sueey Gutierrez and Manuel Alejandro Macarrulla. Bring your own photographs or other personal items to leave at the ofrenda to honor and remember your loved ones. Activities throughout the day will include Mexican style calaveras, maraca decorating, maskmaking, face painting, flower crowns, and more!

Psst… Check Out Things to Do with the Kids in NYC This Weekend

 

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