Halloween Haunts: Exploring Different Types of Spooky Venues

Halloween is one of the favorite holidays for many people. It’s a perfect time to have fun, forget about being serious, and organize great costume parties.

And when it comes to parties, since Halloween is right around the corner, it’s time to start planning and organizing. And what better way to start than to consider all the venue options?

Now, don’t get us wrong. There’s nothing wrong with traditional venues and even your own home. However, if you want to impress your guests and organize a memorable and truly haunted party, you should explore all the non-traditional venue options.

To help you out, we made a list of different types of spooky venues. So, let’s check them out.

1. Banquet ballrooms

If you want to go all out, think about booking a banquet ballroom. These types of places are brimming with history, and this is what makes them extra special, especially late at night. Banquet ballrooms are ideal for ball or masquerade Halloween parties.

That means that your ballroom décor should be appropriate for this kind of venue. Try to avoid cartoonish and contemporary Halloween décor and stick to dark, Gothic Victorian themes. Meaning gold, black, and red colors, taxidermy, dying flowers, spider webs, and old furniture.

For more inspiration check out movies such as Crimson Peak, Dorian Gray, or Van Helsing.

1. Disused warehouses

If properly decorated, disused warehouses can be great event venues for many different parties. But when it comes to the spookiest night of the year, these types of venues are full of character.

Disused warehouses have this sense of abandonment that can be nicely highlighted with proper lighting, props, and décor. The vast space of warehouses allows for the biggest Halloween party ever.

You can hire a DJ, invest in a great photo booth hire from Sydney, and other types of entertainment that will make this place truly come to life.

A great idea is to turn the creepy disused warehouse into a sinister fake hospital. Just find the props necessary to pull this off.

1. Haunted hotels

Every town has one of these. Old, abandoned, haunted hotels can be easily turned into a perfect Halloween venue. So, if you want your Halloween soiree to stand out, book a place like this.

The best thing about haunted hotel venues is that your guests can stay the night and experience the hauntings all night long.

As for the theme of a party in a haunted hotel, you can invite a medium and try to get the ghosts to communicate with you, or you can turn the hotel into Dracula’s lair with coffins and all. A photo booth coffin is a great idea, just so you know!

Oh, and not to forget, since you’re organizing a Halloween party in a hotel, a great inspiration can be the movie The Shining! You know, creepy tweens, haunted hotels, and everything.

1. Creepy farms

Creepy farms must be some of the best venues for Halloween parties. There’s nothing quite as terrifying as a farm with a cornfield behind it on a scary Halloween night.

There are other perks of hosting a party on a farm - lots of space, fewer chances of getting noise complaints and a party can last a whole day or two.

You can start by organizing a pumpkin patch by day and then transition to a spooky costume party when the night falls.

As for décor, a lonely farm is already harrowing on its own. But you can go a step further and add some spider webs, spiders, a scythe or two, a creepy scarecrow, and other similar farm-related props.

1. Freaky woods

Most horror movies feature freaky woods. So, why not organize a Halloween party in the woods? Forest Halloween bash can be appropriate both for adults and children.

What’s more, woods are a great place to organize children's Halloween parties. Children love being in nature, and a party in the spooky forest will be a hit no matter what.

When organizing parties in nature and open air, your best friend is lighting. Use the lighting to light up trees, and create a mystic, otherworldly forest feel. Put out some jack-o-lanterns, carved pumpkins, and tell ghost stories around the campfire.

And if the weather takes a turn for the worse, you can hire a tent and move the guests in there.

1. Horror crypts and cellars

Is there anything more fear-inducing than spooky underground crypts and cellars? It’s not uncommon for Halloween parties to be hosted in churchyards, crypts, and dingy cellars.

Many event companies organize parties and movie screenings on cemetery grounds, so hosting a Halloween party in a place like this is nothing strange.

Moreover, places like churchyards, graveyards, and old crypts will give your party a surreal, blood-curdling feel. A Halloween party organized in these places will also have a great visual impact, so consider all this when looking for venue options.

Other things to consider when looking for Halloween venues

When looking for a perfect venue for your Halloween soiree, in addition to a perfect place, you also need to consider things such as safety, enough space for guests, and accessible entrance and exit points.

Once you find the perfect venue for your party, don’t forget to check how safe and secure the venue is. Before booking the place, make sure that the safety is guaranteed.

Then, never book a venue before figuring out if there’s enough space for all your guests, performers, caterers, and additional equipment. It would be sad to find a perfect venue only to realize that it’s too small for a party of the scale you had in mind.

Finally, always check if the venue has accessible all entrance and exit points. If it doesn’t, have someone clear the passageways and display entrance and exit signs. This is especially important in old, spooky venues.

Conclusion

With all these venue types we merely scratched the surface. There are so many other terrific places where you can organize a harrowing Halloween party. However, we hope that our list has inspired you to book a non-traditional venue for this year’s Halloween party.

Erin Lane is a creative writer and lifestyle blogger from Canberra, Australia. She is a hard-working, organized, dedicated professional interested in learning new things.