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I'm looking for recommendations for family friendly halloween activities. Not the big scary stuff, but farm markets with petting zoos, hayrides, etc. We used to go to Ort Farms in Long Valley, Wemrock Orchard in Freehold, Atlantic Farms in Manasquan, and a few others, but we are living in North Delaware now, and hoping to find stuff closer. So, Southeastern PA, Southern NJ..... any recommendations?
we are heading out Monday the 10th for our yearly family hayride/pumpkin pickin/apple cider doughnuts and pie purchase day at Johnsons Farm in Medford. None better.
Johnson's is generally the highest recommended place. Duffields is good as well.
Closer to you (and me) is Maugeri's in Woolwich Twp., but they don't have even half of the activities of the others, though they are adding more each year. This year they have hayrides, pumpkin picking, hay maze, a treasure hunt and a small farm stand. It's decent for something local and isn't very crowded, but it's not something you could make a day out of like you could at Johnson's.
I've never been there, but it got good reviews, we are thinking about heading there this weekend or next. Again, it doesn't seem to have as much as Johnson's does, but it looks better than Duffields or Maugeri's.
We went to Scarecrow Hollow last weekend and had a blast. It is definitely more geared for the younger crowd, my kids are 2, 3 and 7 and they had a good time, but I could see older kids, say 10+ being kind of bored, though they would probably be bored no matter where they went, lol.
We paid a flat price of $13.50 a person and that let us do the following:
- Giant corn maze, there was a game that you could play going through the maze as well and it could take up to an hour to do it right, we skipped the game and it still took us 25 minutes to get through.
- Courtyard area with playground equipment, an obstacle course, pedal car tracks (even the adults can do it), a sandbox, haybale maze for little kids and a make your own scarecrow.
- Hayrides out to the pumpkin patch and they had little displays along the way, nothing all that WOW, but the kids liked it. Their pumpkins took a huge hit with all the storms, so the only ones left in the field are small pumpkins and a variety of gourds. The pumpkins were $1 each and gourds were 2 for $1. They had large carving pumpkins for sale as well for $6.50 each (at the store) and they were pretty nice.
- Pumpkin painting, when you get back from the hayride they had tables setup with paints so the kids could paint their pumpkins.
- Face painting was included in the price and you could get just about anything you wanted from Dracula or Frankenstein makeup to Spiderman or just a little heart on the cheek.
- Food was reasonably priced and all homemade. They had all the usual fare such as hotdogs, meatballs, etc. Their french fries were great and made from fresh sliced potatoes. They also had fresh cotton candy and funnel cakes and their own invention an "apple sundae" which was diced apples covered in caramel sauce, homemade wet walnuts and whipped cream, it was really good.
- The store was disappointing and nothing like the stores at the larger farms. They had a variety of what I would best describe as "schmultz" so don't plan to go there and buy your normal Fall farm stuff like pies, preserves, crafts, etc.
All in all we spent about 5 hours there just letting the kids play and have a good time. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and not overwhelmingly crowded so we felt comfortable letting the kids roam in the courtyard, even the 3 year old. It was a little tough to find and I would highly recommend following the directions on their website and not the GPS as they seem to get confused from the endless variety of "Hancocks Bridge Rd." in Salem County. The farm is on Quentin-Hancocks Bridge, but there is a Salem Hancocks Bridge, Swedesboro Hancocks Bridge and just plain Hancocks Bridge, neither my phone or car GPS or my parents car GPS could find the right one.
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