Treats and tricks…

Would anyone like some treats with their tricks?

I remember in my childhood Halloween use to mean playing dress up, trick-or-treating and visiting pumpkin patches to carve pumpkins and make homemade pumpkin pie. But now, as an adult, Halloween has transformed into “Dress Like a Slut Night.” Someone has apparently appointed Halloween as the one night girls can go out wearing less clothes than a stripper without other girls hating on them.

And when selecting a costume they just throw slutty or sexy in front of it… Slutty nurse, sexy devil, slutty Girl Scout, sexy cop. I tried the slut thing, a few years ago I went out as a slutty referee and realized I did not enjoy going out half naked — it’s cold in October. Perhaps someone should consider moving “Dress Like a Slut Night” to a summer month.

This year Halloween falls on a Friday, making it a Halloweekend. Although Halloween parties seem to go on throughout the entire month of October, below is a list of the parties just on the 31st…

• Midnight in the Garden at the Gun and Garden Club

• Rumbaween5 at K.I.S.S. Lounge

• Haunted Hom

• Heaven and Hell dueling Halloween at Howl at the Moon

• Wax Guru’s Halloween Bash at Caveman’s Bar and Billiards in Mint Hill.

• Dave Harlequin’s “Something Wicked this Way Comes – The Purgatory Halloween Party at The Gold Club in Pineville.

• Halloween Yacht Party on Lake Norman (tickets available at Punta Cana Restaurant 704.529.3599)

• NV Lounge’s 3rd Annual Boo Bash

• Haunted Harbor at Snug Harbor

• Guys with Ties 3rd Annual Monster Bash at Cans

• Suite’s Immortals Ball

• Erotica at the Sunset Club

• Heroes vs. Vixens and Latin Kick Off at Forum/Pravda

• It’s going to be hard to follow-up Gravediggers Ball, but Dixie’s Tavern is having a costume contest.

• Monster Cash Costume Bash at WhiskyWeen (as in Whisky River)

• Dead Rockers and Celebrity Stalkers at Alley Cat

• Rocky Horro-ween – an interactive screening of the move at the Hart Witzen Gallery in NoDa

• Andrew Blair’s 80’s Halloween

• Six Figure Entertainment’s Masquerade Ball at Mimosa

• Bacardi Halloween Howler Costume Contest Bar Crawl (the closest thing to Trick or Treating I found). It starts at Bad Dogs in University at 7 p.m. then migrates 77 Southbound to the Pub, Whisky River, Tilt, Forum, BAR and Alley Cat.

But for the big kids like me there’s Nightmare on Independence, Scarowinds and Fright Nights at the Whitewater Center.

Or, you can always still take a trip to the pumpkin patch – such as the Farm at Hodges Dairy.

But the biggest party of the horror holiday and my personal party pick is CarnEVIL.

If you thought clowns were scary…you should see Mr. Giggles a.k.a Jim McGuire. Between him and Martin Barry at Nightmare on Independence, I am self-diagnosing myself with coulrophobia.

Due to the size of this boozy bash, CARNEVIL had to expand to a two-night event (Fri, Oct.31 and Sat, Nov.1). The carnival of evil includes a Zombie Fashion Show, a Baby Toss (one of those, “you have to be there” things), Midnight Magnolia, Big Mama House of Burlesque and the Rhythm Doctors. Not to mention four bands and 10 DJs over the course of the two fright nights. All of which is a benefit for DrumStrong and Levine Children’s Hospital.

I was happy to see some creative costumes (and fully clothed women) at Gravediggers Ball and other pre-halloween parties: Beaker, Count Chocula, Girl’s Bathroom Stall….Katy Perry dressed as an angelic egg.

Speaking of girl’s bathroom stalls, the bathroom attendant at Buckhead Salon was giving out candy, which made me feel like I was trick-or-treating and thus helped make me like Halloween all over again.

This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 4, 2008.