Haunting Good Time

Procrastinator's Guide to Halloween Parties: 10 hot Houston happenings

From a tequila dinner to a burlesque show, here are 10 hot happenings to hit up this Halloween weekend.

FRIDAY

Tequila dinner and costume contest at Pico's

Details: Inject your Friday evening with authentic Mexican fare, tequila spirit and Dia de los Muertos fun at Arnaldo Richards’ Upper Kirby restaurant. Enjoy a four-course dinner (pre-dinner cocktails at 6:30; seated dinner at 7:30 pm) featuring achiote spiced shrimp tamale, chicken and cactus pad spiced with guajillo peppers and more, paired with Milagro Tequila cocktails. Dress casual chic — or don your best Day of the Dead inspired getup for a costume contest (9 pm).
Entry: Tickets are $99 per person.

SATURDAY

Halloween Fright Night

Details: On Saturday, drink your way through The Heights at neighborhood joints: D&T Drive Inn, Johnny's Gold Brick, Big Star Bar, Lei Low, Southern Goods and Town in City Brewing Company. Each place will feature a special cocktail or beer. Hit up all six spots and score a free commemorative pint glass. What's more, a shuttle will bus you between locales.
Shuttles: Party-goers can catch a free ride, from 7 pm until 1 am, at any location with shuttles running every 30 minutes.
Entry: Free.

Costume contest at Baker Street Pub & Grill

Details: Break out your Party City pants and head to any of the six Houston-area locales of casual pub for an All Hallows’ Eve blowout (9 pm) featuring live music — and a cash contest for best costume.
Entry: Free.

Animal House at Local Pour - River Oaks

Details: Get your togas ready and kick it Animal House style with an '80s twist at the River Oaks outpost of the popular bar (9 pm). Dance the night away to '80’s hits by the 5-piece band, The New Waves.
Entry: Free.

Shipwrecked at Julep

Details: The Washington Ave. bar celebrates the ghosts of Southern port cities, from pirates to Civil War-era apparitions, with a selection of sparkling wine, a themed cocktail menu, spins from DJ Willie Whop, door prizes (6 pm - midnight) and a costume competition for $1,000 (10 pm - midnight).
Entry: A suggested donation of $5 at the door will benefit the Arthritis Foundation.

Mr. Peeples

Details: The Halloween party at Mr. Peeples has quickly become a Midtown tradition. Now in its third year, the event will boast more than 20 DJs spread throughout the four-story 40,000 square-foot space, dropping a beat from 8 pm until 2 am. Go big with your Halloween garb: A $10,000 cash prize is on the line for best costume.
Entry: Tickets start at $35 per person.

La Griglia Halloween

Details: Mingle with see-and-be-seen stylish ghouls and goblins at this ritzy River Oaks bash that has become a Houston Halloween tradition. The restaurant turns nightclub-like for the evening (7 pm - close) with a DJ, plus extra bars set up throughout the venue for your drinking pleasure.
Entry: Free.

Lady Bunny at Hotel ZaZa

Details: The Museum District hotel presents a can’t-miss bash (10 pm) hosted by larger-than-life drag queen, Lady Bunny spinning her favorite tunes. You can also expect drink specials and late-night passed bites.
Entry: $75 per person.

Vampire bash at Tarakaan

Details: The fundamentals of a standout All Saints' Eve party (10 pm - 2 am) are all here thanks to drink specials (think: $60 bottles of Moet and $9 bloody berry martinis), music by DJ James Reed, a costume contest and a next-day hangover brunch (Sunday; noon - 3 pm) complete with your choice of bottomless mimosas or Bloody Mary’s.
Entry: Entry to the party on Saturday night is free. Brunch on Sunday is $30 per person.

Prohibition Supperclub & Bar

Details: The swank downtown venue, which houses a restaurant and bar up front and a theater in back is spicing up Halloween with a burlesque show by the Moonlight Dolls (from 7 - 8:30 pm; and again from 9:30 - 11 pm) and a three-course dinner. Tasty highlights include lentil Soup (with beluga lentils, thyme roasted sweet potato, avocado, radish and lime) and braised short rib (with blood beets, purple potatoes, charred onions and mushrooms). Make sure to dress up: Costumes are required.
Entry: Tickets for the show start at $10 per person and dinner is an additional $45 per person.

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Did we miss your favorite Halloween party spot? If so, let us know in the comments section below.

Mingle with see-and-be-seen stylish ghouls and goblins at La Griglia.

Houston, La Griglia, October 2015, Halloween party and costumes

La Griglia/Facebook

Mingle with see-and-be-seen stylish ghouls and goblins at La Griglia.

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Hottest headlines of 2024

A hurricane, a closure, and King George: These are Houston's top 10 stories of 2024

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

After five days without power, Ken has a lot to say.

Editor's note: Presenting CultureMap's most read stories of the year. None of these should surprise Houstonians. They're the topics that shaped our world in 2024. They include the too-slow response to Hurricane Beryl, the Texas Renaissance Festival's moment in the national spotlight, and a brewery's sudden closure.

Sadly, it also includes the sudden death of our friend and colleague Ken Hoffman. So much of what's happened since his death in July makes us think of him. We wonder what Ken would've made of the latest drama between John Whitmire and Lina Hidalgo or the Astros moving on from Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman. Although he wasn't into metrics, we know he'd be proud to have written this year's most-read article.

Read on for this year's 10 most popular stories on CultureMap Houston.

1. Ken Hoffman knows whom to blame for Houston's too slow Beryl recovery. In what would sadly turn out to be his final column, Ken did what he does best — express what’s on everyone’s mind better than they could themselves. As Houstonians recovered from Beryl’s unexpected strength, Ken called CenterPoint to task for taking too long to restore power and politicians of both parties for not doing enough to improve the situation.

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

After five days without power, Ken Hoffman had a lot to say.

2. Houston beer shocker: Sawyer Yards brewery shutters after landlord lock out. Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company's existence came to an abrupt end in January, when its landlord suddenly terminated its lease for non-payment of rent. Initially, the brewery vowed to reopen. Instead, Gulf Coast Distillers claimed the facility as the new home for its Tejas Beer brand.

3. Texas Renaissance Festival distances itself from viral HBO docuseries. Ren Faire, HBO’s three-part docuseries, brought the story of festival founder “King” George Coulam to the small screen where viewers watched as he ruminated on retirement and attempted to woo younger women. The local organization issued a somewhat confusing statement distancing itself from its staff’s eccentric portrayal.

4.Ken Hoffman, CultureMap's consummate Houston columnist, passes away. We were all shocked by Ken’s sudden death, which came only two days after his column about Hurricane Beryl. A dozen of his friends and colleagues shared memories of trips, meals, and other experiences with Ken that they’ll treasure forever.

Ken Hoffman was a CultureMap kind of guy. Photo courtesy of MikeMcGuff.com

5. 16 Houston-based companies hailed best places to work by U.S. News. More than a dozen Houston-based companies shared the spotlight in U.S. News and World Report's collection of the "Best Companies to Work For" in 2024-2025.

6. Exclusive: Dominique Sachse sends heartfelt message to Houston fans upon news of her major move. The former KPRC anchor made a splash when she revealed she’d be moving to Dallas to join Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media. Although the transition was short lived — she left the network in November — Sachse remains a presence on YouTube, where she approximately 1.9 million subscribers.

7. Houston neighbor ranks as one of America's most livable small cities. In the SmartAsset 2024 "Most Livable Small Cities" report, which compared 281 U.S. cities with populations between 65,000 and 100,000, Missouri City came in at No. 77. The Southwest Houston suburb earned the ranking thanks to its relatively low cost of living and strong park system, among other factors.

8. What you need to know about the end of Texas vehicle inspections. The good news is that safety inspections end on December 31. Sadly, Houstonians must still pass an emissions inspection.

Texas inspection sticker Texas car registration laws will change in 2025. Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

9. 2 Houston high schools rank among America's top 100 in 2024, says U.S. News. Each year, U.S. News evaluates about 18,000 high schools on six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth, and graduation rates. When it ran the numbers, magnet schools Carnegie Vanguard High School and DeBakey High School for Health Professions both made the top 100.

10. Predicting 14 Houston restaurants that should earn a Michelin star. Overall, this article fared reasonably well. Three of the four “locks” earned stars, and one of the four “probably” restaurants did, too — meaning we correctly identified four of the six restaurants that ultimately earned a star. Six of the other predictions for stars and Bib Gourmands earned either a Bib or a “Recommended” designation.

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Brianna Griff and Stephanie Merry contributed to this article.

Haunting Good Time

Procrastinator's Guide to Halloween Parties: 10 hot Houston happenings

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Mingle with see-and-be-seen stylish ghouls and goblins at La Griglia.

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Hottest headlines of 2024

CultureMap Emails Are AwesomeGet Houston intel delivered daily.

We will not share or sell your email address.

CultureMap Emails Are Awesome
Get Houston intel delivered daily.

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Get Houston intel delivered daily.