Dracula, toothy ghosts, neon skeletons, scorpions, trick or treat...Halloween theme parties have caught the fancy of city folk.
Hotels and clubs are hosting evenings that are bringing in crowds. These parties are veritable platforms for event companies to showcase their creativity. From props to games and food, it is a competition of the bizarre, the outlandish and the spooky.
Grand Hyatt brought to the city a haunted house setting, where visitors arrived dressed at their spookiest best and DJ Ram and the music band The Matt performed for the costume party.
At Casino Hotel, monsters from Hotel Transylavnia had a free run at Spooktacular, a party for children. The costume party had 137 children this time, all dressed to the hilt as monsters adorable witches, creepy clowns, scarecrows, lackadaisical zombies and super heroes sich as Spider Man, Wonder Woman, Cat Woman and Maleficent.
Besides the costume party, there were hands-on activities for the children, which included painting and making paper pumpkin lanterns. Sony Mathew, who runs The Party Store in Kochi, has been organising Halloween parties for seven years consecutively. She says the city has grown to understand and appreciate the fun of Halloween. While during the first few years she had to educate people on trick or treating and Halloween costumes, now children themselves pick their costumes. “This year, I had parents who were as enthusiastic as their children,” laughs Sony.
She devises her own games, some such as Ring the Witch Hat, Pop the Ghost, Bring down Dracula, Help Mr. Bones, Pumpkin Making and Frankenstein Walk are extremely popular with the children. “I have had children who have not missed a single Halloween party.” Sony, who is passionate about her Halloween events still plays Micheal Jackson’s Thriller and songs from Bhoothnath, which she says the children do not relate to. “They tell me to stop playing MJ, but I don’t.”
The food at these events add to the mood. Most of them are ghoulish—cup cakes in an unpalatable green, Frankenstein rolls, cookies, which have spiders on them, hot dog rolls, spooky vegetarian pizza, cobweb doughnuts, scorpion on gateaux and more.
The best thing about Halloween, say its fans, are that one could dress up the worst and still be the best.
The River Bourne Centre at Tripunithura is hosting two Halloween parties on October 31 and November 1 for children and adults . ‘Goosebumps 2K19’ for 5-12-year-olds will be a costume party with an intriguing slime making workshop, costume parade, face-painting and a spooky story session by the camp fire. All-time favourite games such as haunted maze and spooky parade will be held on November 1. A DJ along with live music and band performance will also be a part of the entertainment.
Le Meridien will organise a ‘Halloween Kids Party’ for the third consecutive year on November 3 . From face painting to games and costume competitions, the event will combine fun activities and food.
