If you’re anything like us, you’ve no doubt been scouring the depths of the interweb for inspiration for a costume unique enough for your Halloween festivities. If the perfect getup remains elusive, come to The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park for just the push your imagination desires.
Skulls, an exhibit featuring 640 different dead heads, opened earlier this year to audible gasps of admiration and intrigue. A range of heads is on display, spanning an enormous African bull elephant to a tiny shrew, from frogs, fish, and birds to giraffes, warthogs, and walruses. It’s a mind-bending, multi-species experience, and it’s pleasantly disconcerting to see how similar we all look on the inside when all’s said and done.
If your costume is set and you’re looking for the perfect place to show off, read on for three frightfully delightful evening events for adults and children alike:
October 17, 6 pm — Penguins + Pajamas Sleepover
Ben Stiller shouldn’t be the only one to experience the magic of closing time at the museum. This evening event will give sleepover guests the chance to see what really goes bump in the night, as well as listen to the evening songs of the rainforest birds, interact with a Penguin specialist, and become stargazing gurus during an after-hours planetarium show. $109/person Non-members, $89/person Members, 55 Music Concourse Dr.
October 24, 5 pm — SuperNatural Halloween
Grab your costume and have yourself a ghoulishly great time trick-or-treating your way through the Academy at night, among spooky skulls and spine-tingling specimens! $50 for adults ($45 for Academy Adult Member), $35 for children ($30 for Academy Child Member), 55 Music Concourse Dr.
October 30, 6 pm – Creatures of the NightLife
For an evening of delightful disgust and the science (but mostly spectacle) behind vampires, zombies, and the rest of your Halloween cast, join NightLife and drag legend Peaches Christ for an evening guaranteed to make your hair stand on end! $12, ages 21+, 55 Music Concourse Dr.
With this exhibit closing on November 30, there’s never been a better time to explore the world’s only aquarium-planetarium-rainforest-living museum. Get tickets at calacademy.org.
