Halloween still belongs to the trick-or-treaters, but a grown-up version now runs right beside it. It fills bar crawls that last for hours, street festivals packed with costumes, theme park nights for guests over 13 and gift baskets that carry treats to a friend’s porch instead of a child’s pillowcase. The two versions share a date, but little else.
Office costume contests and themed happy hours have been around for years. What’s different now is how deliberately businesses build around them, with their own tickets and hours instead of squeezing adult programming into trick-or-treat night. A gift-basket trend has grown alongside it, with friends and partners assembling baskets of wine, cider, candy and skincare for each other instead of for a child. This version now spans both coasts and nearly every kind of venue, from bars to theme parks.
Halloween spending backs up what businesses are seeing. A recent consumer survey found that Americans are expected to spend $13.5 billion on Halloween this year, matching last year’s record of $13.1 billion. Adults are on pace to spend $2 billion on their own costumes, the same as last year, even as children’s costume spending climbs to $1.5 billion, while spending on candy, decorations and nearly every other category stays about where it was last year.
Boston turns Halloween into an 8-hour crawl
Boston’s Crawl-O-Ween turns the same night into an eight-hour bar crawl. Now in its 13th year, the event starts at noon on Oct. 31 at Big Night Live near TD Garden and sends wristband holders to more than 30 bars and clubs, including The Harp, Ned Devine’s, Lansdowne Pub and Game On. There’s no cover charge, and free trolleys connect the stops.
Early sign-ups can also use a discount code, BASSLINE, advertised on the event page. Organizers put this year’s attendance at more than 20,000 people and, by their own count, describe it as the largest Halloween bar crawl in the country. Live DJs and bands play at select venues throughout the day.
West Hollywood asks parents to sit this one out
Every Oct. 31, West Hollywood’s Halloween Carnaval fills Santa Monica Boulevard with costumed adults, not trick-or-treaters. The event has run since 1987 and now draws more than 100,000 revelers, according to the city’s own tourism office, which recommends leaving kids and pets at home because the event gets risqué and crowded.
The city asks attendees to share costume photos using the hashtag #WeHoHalloween. Food trucks set up at the event’s main stage, and the city bans public drinking along the route, though nearby bars and restaurants keep their own celebrations going well into the night.
Universal skips the candy bowl entirely
Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights skips the candy bowl entirely and sells its own menu instead. Universal’s own event site does not recommend its Orlando event for guests under 13, and the season runs through Nov. 1 at both Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood.
Orlando also bans costumes on regular nights, allowing them only on two Premium Scream Night dates earlier this season. This year’s Orlando lineup includes Annie’s Juke Joint Catfish & Grits, built around the “Sinners” house, and a drink called the Cenobite’s Kiss, tied to the “Hellraiser” haunted house. Local Florida breweries make several seasonal specialty drinks, including the Maniac Mix and the Oddfellow’s Elixir.
A small Texas downtown turns into one giant costume crawl
Denison, Texas, turns its whole downtown into a Halloween circuit for its Zombie Crawl on Oct. 31, with 10 bars, lounges and hangouts taking part. Downtown Denison Inc., the group of local business owners that runs it, keeps the event free and open to anyone looking for spooky drink specials, themed cocktails and live music along the route. A costume contest runs alongside it, though organizers haven’t announced exactly where it will take place.
Earlier that day, downtown shops run their own Boo-tique Sale. By evening, the whole area, not any single bar, belongs to adults in costume.
A basket economy built for grown-ups
Away from ticketed events, the same pattern is showing up on porches in a quieter form. It’s called the “boo basket,” a Halloween-themed gift adults now assemble for each other instead of for a child’s trick-or-treat bag.
Retailers have built products specifically for it. Dylan’s Candy Bar sells a “Boo-tiful Stash” candy tote, while Apothic sells a collectible “Blood Bag” wine-bag kit. Angry Orchard offers a “Thriller” cider variety pack with glow-in-the-dark packaging, and skin care brand Tubby Todd teamed up with Swedish candy retailer Sockerbit on a black cherry skin care collection.
Adult Halloween is becoming its own separate night
People without a trick-or-treater at home increasingly plan their own separate night, built around tickets and venues that have nothing to do with candy. Cities and brands have reason to keep investing in that version, giving it its own budget and its own calendar. Within a few more years, parents and the friends without a trick-or-treater at home could be living through two entirely different versions of Oct. 31.
Mandy writes about food, home and the kind of everyday life that feels anything but ordinary. She has traveled extensively, and those experiences have shaped everything, from comforting meals to small lifestyle upgrades that make a big difference. You’ll find all her favorite recipes over at Hungry Cooks Kitchen.