It’s finally here—Halloween weekend! If you blew all your time and money on making a creative costume and not on making actual plans, we’ve got you covered. Here are 23 free things you can do to celebrate this weekend (plus a few other cool things we threw in for you), ranging from an organ concert to a Halloween hangover party to the Short Run Comix & Arts Festival, with plenty of Halloween parties in between. And, for a complete list of events this weekend, check out our complete Halloween calendar.
FRIDAY
Día de los Muertos at SAM
Celebrate Dia de los Muertos by visiting SAM’s unique tapete (sand painting) installation inspired by Oaxaca’s beautiful traditions. There will also be music, dancing, and hands-on art activities and workshops that will connect art, culture, and tradition. (RSVP required)
Halloween Midnight Circus
This circus-themed party at WeWork might just turn into a genuine circus of insanity, because it’s free AND there’s an open bar provided by LUCID…just RSVP to secure your spot. Come in costume and enjoy music by Integral DJs.
Easy Street Monster Mash Bash
Grace Love and the True Loves are playing a free and all-ages pre-funk to Halloween at Easy Street, fresh off a summer of bad-ass live shows.
Halloween Organ Concert
Tonight features a program of spooky organ classics, Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor included.
Suburban Relapse
DJ Kkost and special guest DJ Blank Eyes will be spinning “all the dark wave, punk, and goth your black hearts require.”
BONUS: Marathon III: A Short Run Art Show
Before Saturday’s Short Run Comix and Arts Festival, Fantagraphics hosts this art show featuring art from Jim Woodring, Bruce Bickford, Charles Forsman, Melissa Mendes, and Dash Grant winner Krish Raghav. Lisa Prank will provide live music between 6 and 9 pm.
DOUBLE BONUS: Sondra Perry
Inca presents Sondra Perry’s first solo exhibition, featuring a 2010 piece called “Red Summer” and a 2015 video called “Lineage for a Multiple-Monitor Workstation: Number One.” Perry will perform at 8 o’clock on opening night, and the exhibition runs through November 19 by appointment.
SATURDAY
Pregame your Halloween with free wine tasting!
Train Car Halloween Party
The Orient Express hosts a very disco Halloween with SF disco don Sergio Fedasz and Seattle’s own Derek Pavone on the decks.
The House on Haunted (Capitol) Hill
Linda’s throws a Halloween shindig with DJ Curtis throwing down on the decks and food and drink specials all night long.
Halloween Extravaganza
Montis Grill hosts a Halloween extravaganza, with happy hour drinks and a full menu served all night, costume contests for kids and adults, and “candy for kids.” Hands off, adults!
Halloween at Hula Hula and Tini Big’s
Hula Hula and Tini Big’s will host a conjoined twin of a Halloween party, with karaoke and a costume contest beginning at 9.
Ozzie’s Halloween Costume Contest
Ozzie’s throws a big Halloween blowout, with a costume contest, photo booths, dancing, karaoke, and the very spooky sounding Captain Morgan Cannon Shot for a measly five bucks.
5th Annual Halloween Party/Double Feature
A costume contest, multiple horror films, Noisegasm, DJ Nicfit, and obviously, really awesome beer are just a few of the highlights of this Halloween party at Naked City. Make sure to stick around til 11, when they announce the winners of the costume contest.
Psycho Party Wave
Revolver Bar describes their Halloween party thusly: “On Halloween night, the alter egos of the Women Warriors DJs will bring you Psycho Party Wave (an eerie rendition of Mod Party Wave). Visual displays will be curated by artist Hanako O’Leary. Costumes and dancing highly encouraged.”
Parlour Tricks
Spiritualism, séances, and furious mourners: this show at Seattle Public Theatre promises a period drama with relatable and completely engrossing themes. Best of all, it’s performed by high schoolers acting as morbidly-obsessed Victorian aristocrats—and it’s free, with tickets available at the door. (Also on Sunday)
A Tenenbaum Halloween
Wes-heads rejoice; it’s a Royal Tenenbaum-themed Halloween party at the Backdoor (with a costume contest to boot). (Free before 10 pm)
BONUS: Short Run Comix & Arts Festival
Short Run, a giant comix and arts festival now in its fifth year, is happening during the day on Halloween! They’re making the most of the holiday overlap by setting up some Trick or Treating activities and handing out risograph-printed masks designed by Scott Travis. But the main entree of the festival is the book fair, which features over 200 artists, cartoonists, zinesters, and publishers.
SUNDAY
Halloween Hangover
Ghost Gallery hosts this post-Halloween party, complete with (boozy and regular) hot chocolate, mimosas, Excedrin, and a candy swap! You’ll also get a goody bag with “feel-better treats.”
Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Exhibit
If you’re sick of hipsters repurposing the sugar skull, you’ll appreciate this involved, deliberate, and thoughtful exhibit about Día de los Muertos, put on by El Centro de la Raza. The best part? Free dinner from 5:30-7:00 pm.
Día de los Muertos Festival
The Phinney Neighborhood Association hosts this free, family-friendly festival with music, dance, food, arts and crafts, and more.
BONUS: Compline Choir
Detox from your Halloween debauchery by listening to some excellent choral music at St. Mark’s.
DOUBLE BONUS: Cary Moon: Future Seattle: A People’s Forum
What better way to get yourself out of the Halloween mindset and into election mode than attending the Frye’s forum on the future of Seattle? Stranger Genius and urban designer Cary Moon will lead this forum.
