Another year, another Halloween night spent in gorging on sweets that were meant for trick or treaters and tapping through Snapchat stories of peers donning devil or clown costumes with spooky contact lenses. Or perhaps, that doesn’t have to be the case!
There are lots of things going on in Dublin not only on October 31, but in the week coming up to it, to get you into the Halloween spirit. From potion-making classes to séances, you can make your Hallo-week one to remember!
Nail-biting nights out
Handily enough, Halloween falls on a Thursday, the perfect time for a night out…wait, what Friday 9am?
District 8 is holding its Midnight Disco Halloween Party for €25 entry (including a return bus if you go via the SU deal). If that’s not your cup of tea, The Academy will be hosting Eugene McCauley at Konspiracy Club, and Dicey’s, O’Reilly’s and the Mercantile are holding Halloween Balls the evening of.
Thursday just doesn’t suit you for the sesh? No worries – there’s lots on before the big night.
If you can’t get enough of Todd Phillips’ Joker, spend your bank holiday Sunday in Gotham City! Well, it’d actually be The Academy, but the venue will be transformed into something like Gotham this Sunday! It will also have two other spooky-themed nights on the Friday and Saturday if you’re going to go wild this Hallo-weekend. O’Reilly’s and Dicey’s are also holding their Fancy Dress Balls on this Sunday and Monday respectively.
Harry Potter cocktails?
The Cauldron Magical Experience has set up its potions classes in the Liquor Rooms, and what better way to spend Hallo-week than becoming a wizard or witch for the evening and concocting delicious cocktails! Book a student night (Wednesdays or Sundays in October) with The Cauldron for an hour and 45 minute class on molecular mixology to make your own cocktails or mocktails using a magic wand, while wearing a robe. With a student discounted rate of €19.99 (the original being €29.99) for a welcome drink, two molecular cocktails, and the interactive experience, how could you let Hogwarts down by not attending your potions class at that price?
Spook-tacular screenings
There’s nothing like a good Halloween classic, and there’ll be plenty of screenings of them this week. Time to grab your friends and popcorn for some fright nights.
In the next week at Retro Drive-in Movies at the Leopardstown Racecourse, you can watch: Hocus Pocus, Nightmare on Elm Street, Gremlins, The Nightmare before Christmas, The Amityville of Horror, or three of the darker Harry Potters (The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix or The Half Blood Prince). €30 for a 5 seater.
The Lighthouse Cinema will be screening lots of cult classics for Hallo-week: The Shining, Hocus Pocus, The Mummy, Final Destination, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Haunting and The Faculty. Day student tickets fall at €7.50, and evening student tickets €9.
Dracula, séances, and dark installations
The Bram Stoker Festival is back for its seventh year and celebrates all things Gothic over the Bank Holiday weekend. There are many gory events to sink your teeth into that can be found on the website.
Night Watch is a water-borne installation at Grand Canal Dock, best viewed in the dark hours of the evening for some atmospheric illuminations. Why not pop-by sometime during the festival? it’s free after all!
Now you can’t go complaining about how boring Halloween is, as it can be far from so! It’s what you make of it, and this is only the beginning! Come Week 8 of college, there will be plenty of fun society events as well. Until then, enjoy what Dublin’s Hallo-week has to offer!
