Halloween Can Be A Week Long If You Play It Right

Halloween falls on a Saturday night and if that’s not enough, the celebration gods have also given us an extra hour to party. Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 a.m. on November 1, so bars that normally stay open until then will be in business an extra hour.

However, that also means this year is going to be busier and crazier than ever before in recent memory. So if you want to celebrate Halloween but standing in a line four people deep for a cocktail isn’t your idea of a good time, check out these five pre-Halloween activities.

Updated 10/24/2015, 3:43 p.m.: The BooTown Bash has been postponed because of the weather. Ticket holders will be able to redeem their passes for a future date.

~~5. The Third Annual BooTown Bash, The Summit, 3536 Navigation~~

This year’s event on Saturday, October 24 promises Grown-Up Storytime, puppet pageants, DJs playing surfer rock and chicken costumes. That’s in addition to food from Pi Pizza, Bernie’s Burger Bus, Izakaya, Ninja Ramen (just to name a few) and drinks by Real Ale Brewing, Deep Eddy Vodka and Kickin’ Kombucha. Tickets start at $30 and are available online.

4. Halloween Costume Party at Brasserie 19, 1962 West Gray

Clark Cooper Concepts is hosting its fourth annual Halloween costume party on Saturday, October 24. The theme is “Secrets From a Haunted Circus.” It starts at 9:30 p.m. and the organizers say, “Come ready to dance!” Veuve Clicquot is sponsoring the bubbly. Attendees who want to have dinner first should call 713-524-1919 for a reservation.

3. 80s Night & Pre-Halloween Party at Spare Key, 2416 Brazos

On Sunday, October 25, dust off those off-the-shoulder sweatshirts and skinny ties. Spare Key is hosting an ’80s-hemed party the Sunday before Halloween. Attendees dressed as their favorite ’80s pop culture personality can enter the costume contest, and everyone can dance all night to Hall & Oates, The Cure and other quintessential bands.

There will be cocktail specials all night on 80s throwback drinks (B-52 shots, anyone?) and $2 Lone Stars. Take the stairs at Cook & Collins to find Spare Key on the second floor.

If you “Just Can’t Get Enough” on Halloween night, Spare Key will also be one of the stops on the Midtown Pub Crawl. Tickets are available online.

2. Halloween Eve at Julep

Julep will be honoring the ghost of Jean Lafitte on October 30. Lafitte was one of the Gulf Coast’s most famous pirates, and even anchored for a while in Galveston. Julep will feature the cocktail named after him, with rum, absinthe, triple sec, sugar, a whole egg and Peychaud’s, for $9. Consider it a portent of the big Shipwrecked party the club has planned for the following night.

1. El Big Bad’s Pop Shop & Festival

If you want to be hiding under the covers when the ghosts and ghouls come out, celebrate during the daylight hours. On Halloween day, El Big Bad’s 5th Annual Día de los Muertos Street Festival features candy, costumes, art activities, face painting, food, drinks and fun for the whole family from noon until 5 p.m. Afterward, the activities geared more to the grown-ups will get into full swing.