Last year, we organized an event at a children’s play center as an alternative activity to keep our young kids occupied instead of celebrating Halloween.
Alḥamdulillāh, the event was very successful — the children enjoyed their time, and the parents expressed their appreciation for the initiative, especially since many of the young ones are still too little to understand why we refrain from participating in Halloween.

This year, we have the opportunity to hold the event again at a discounted rate, and both the parents and children have been looking forward to it.

Would it be permissible, in your view, for us to hold the event again this year, with the intention not to repeat it next year?
Please note that the event will likely not be open to the general community, but limited to the students of the school only.

All praise is due to Allah. May blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and all who follow them.

To proceed:

We reviewed your kind question about holding an educational, recreational event for the schoolchildren on Halloween night, as a pedagogical alternative to keep them from participating in this widespread observance. We noted your care for a balanced Islamic upbringing, and we ask Allah to bless your efforts.

Ruling on holding this event:

Based on what the majority of scholars have established regarding religious innovation (bidʿah), organizing this event does not fall under blameworthy religious innovations—neither as a true innovation nor as the blameworthy “additive” type—for the following reasons:

1. The event is not intended as worship or a means of drawing closer to Allah. Its aim is educational and preventive, to protect children from being influenced by a practice that conflicts with Islamic values. This places it in the category of means (asbāb), not in the category of strictly devotional acts fixed by revelation that require specific proof. Many contemporary educational and organizational measures belong to the sphere of permissible means and interests, so long as they are not added to the religion or allowed to crowd out its rites.

2. The event does not imitate religious rites or the Prophetic Sunnah. Nor can designating this particular day for gathering be deemed a blameworthy additive innovation, because the designation is not based on believing that the day itself has any special virtue, nor is it meant to initiate a religious rite. It is grounded in a situational need related to a widespread behavior into which children may be drawn. This belongs to educational policy, not devotional legislation.

3. Blameworthy innovation becomes more strictly prohibited when it takes on a public face and a banner that competes with the Sunnah. That is not the case here; the matter concerns a very small segment of the wider Muslim community.

That said, it is preferable to observe the following:

• Do not create in the children’s minds an attachment to this date as an annual custom. Even if the gathering is repeated for the same purpose because the need recurs—without forming that association—there is no harm.

• Keep the entertainment general, not tied to Halloween imagery or symbols.

• Include, as appropriate to the children’s ages, some educational guidance on the Muslim stance toward the religious holidays of non-Muslims and those observances that conflict with Islam’s principles and values.

Conclusion:

It is permissible, God willing, for you to hold this event this year, and there is no legal objection to it. Indeed, it may count among sound educational interests if governed by sincere intention and kept free of imitative trappings.

We ask Allah to bless your efforts and reward you well for your good care. And Allah knows best.

May Allah’s blessings be upon Muḥammad, and praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds.