Halloween Under the Blue Whale at NYC's American Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side

The American Museum of Natural History is holding its annual Halloween Celebration on Saturday, October 31, from 11am to 4pm. Because the date falls on Halloween itself this year, the museum is pitching it as a way to spend the day before heading out trick-or-treating around the city.

The event is centered beneath the museum's blue whale model. According to AMNH's official Instagram, the day includes live music, dancing, crafts and science demonstrations. Themed arts-and-crafts stations are set up, face painting is by InHerBeauty, and Ken Romo makes balloon animals. A marine biology show is also on the schedule.

A trick-or-treat route and a costume parade run around Floor 1 of the museum. Costumes are encouraged, but the museum asks visitors to leave Halloween masks at home.

The Halloween Celebration costs $25, or $15 for museum members. It is available only to people who also buy Museum admission for Saturday, October 31, so the price comes on top of the regular admission ticket.

For Japanese readers, AMNH is a classic stop on any New York trip, known for its fossil halls, dioramas and large-scale ocean life models, including giant squid replicas hanging in the galleries. New York's best-known Halloween events tend to be outdoors, so a museum-based afternoon offers an indoor, family-oriented alternative on the day itself.

The museum is on the Upper West Side, at Central Park West and 79th Street.