The Ankeny Brief
Two things trip up newcomers to Ankeny every year: the fact that kids here tell a joke before you hand over the candy, and the fact that "when is trick-or-treat" has an unusually complicated answer. Here's the plain guide to Halloween and the Christmas-lights season in Ankeny, plus the local traditions worth knowing.
Ankeny and the Des Moines metro moved trick-or-treating to Halloween itself (Oct. 31) starting in 2025, ending the old night-before Beggars' Night. Hours are set yearly (6 to 8 p.m. in 2025), so confirm with the city. Kids still tell a joke for candy. For lights, Ankeny has Uptown Wonderlights and Gingerbread Lane, plus Jolly Holiday Lights at the fairgrounds nearby.
Ankeny now trick-or-treats on Halloween night, October 31, and in 2025 the city's window was 6 to 8 p.m. For decades the Des Moines area did it differently: trick-or-treating happened on Beggars' Night, October 30, the night before Halloween, until Ankeny and most metro cities ended that tradition and moved to Halloween night starting in 2025.
Because the date and hours are set each year by the city, always confirm the current schedule with the City of Ankeny before Halloween rather than assuming. We post the confirmed time each October in the weekly Ankeny Brief and on the events calendar.
If a costumed seven-year-old stands on your porch and says "knock knock" before reaching for the bowl, you're experiencing the most charming piece of Des Moines-area Halloween. The joke-for-a-treat tradition goes back to Beggars' Night's origins in 1938, when the custom started as a way to steer Halloween energy away from vandalism. Kids once sang songs or recited poems; over the years it became telling a joke. Even now that trick-or-treating has moved to Halloween night, the joke custom lives on, and it genuinely surprises people who move here from anywhere else.
Once the kids age out of trick-or-treating, the metro has a real haunted-house scene about 15 minutes south in Des Moines. These are genuinely scary and built for older kids, teens, and adults, not little ones. Dates and hours change every year and most run only on fall weekends, so confirm the current season before you go.
Sleepy Hollow Haunted Scream Park (4051 Dean Ave, Des Moines) is Iowa's biggest, running 30-plus years, with 10-plus attractions on one site plus food vendors. Typically open fall Thursday through Sunday evenings, cash only with ATMs on site.
Linn's Haunted House (3805 6th Ave, Des Moines) is one of the oldest in the metro, open since 1984: a pitch-black, crawl-through, suspense-over-gore classic on fall weekend nights.
The Slaughterhouse and a rotating cast of other haunts round out the metro each fall. Confirm hours and dates before you drive down.
Want the daytime, family version instead? The Ankeny pumpkin patch guide has the corn mazes, hayrides, and apple orchards.
Ankeny has two standout displays of its own, Uptown Wonderlights and Gingerbread Lane, plus one of the metro's biggest, Jolly Holiday Lights, just down the road:
Dates and prices shift year to year, so confirm before you load up the car. For more cold-weather ideas, see our winter in Ankeny guide.
Central Iowa has a few choose-and-cut Christmas tree farms within a short drive of Ankeny. They hand you the saw; you handle the debate over which one is "the one." Most run weekends from just after Thanksgiving into mid-December, and some let you tag a tree earlier in the fall. Call ahead or check current hours, because a good farm sells out of the big trees fast.
THE Christmas Tree Farm (near Maxwell, northeast of Ankeny) lets you tag a tree in the fall and come back to cut it after Thanksgiving, with snacks and drinks on site. Howell's Tree Farm (Cumming, about 20 minutes southwest of Des Moines) has 50 acres and thousands of evergreens, from the same family barn you may know from fall. Deal's Orchard (Jefferson) does cut-your-own or pre-cut trees with an Apple Barn, Santa's sleigh, and hot cider.
Prefer pre-cut and easy? Local lots and garden stores stock trees through December too.
The Ankeny Brief is a free weekly email. Every October we run the confirmed trick-or-treat hours, and every December the lights are on the list. Local, useful, no spam.
Halloween and the holidays are the headliners, but the town keeps a full calendar year-round: SummerFest and the fireworks in July, the farmers market from spring to fall, and more. See the full Ankeny events calendar, our guide to Fourth of July fireworks, and things to do in Ankeny any time of year.
Ankeny moved trick-or-treating to Halloween itself (Oct. 31) starting in 2025, ending Beggars' Night. Hours were 6 to 8 p.m. in 2025 and are set each year, so confirm with the city.
The old Des Moines-area custom of trick-or-treating on Oct. 30, the night before Halloween, with kids telling a joke for candy. It dates to 1938 and was retired in favor of Halloween night in 2025.
Yes. It's the signature local tradition, and many Ankeny kids still do it even after the date change.
Uptown Wonderlights on SW 3rd Street and Gingerbread Lane on SE Richland Court, both free, plus Jolly Holiday Lights at the Iowa State Fairgrounds nearby.
About $25 per car in recent years, with $1 of each ticket benefiting Make-A-Wish Iowa. Confirm the current price and dates before visiting.