Best Bangkok Halloween parties

Come evening, Halloween parties will kick into gear all over the city. Those looking to go all-out with full costumes and freaky madness will want to hit these events Saturday night.

This trendy, pedestrianized strip is a favorite haunt for the city’s gay community year-round and is one of the wildest places to spend Halloween in Bangkok. Every year the bars, clubs and restaurants on Silom Soi 4 (BTS: Sala Daeng) band together to put on a spectacular street party that features an outrageous fancy dress contest.

If you hate crowds, stay away from backpacker enclave Khao San Road on Halloween night. The road turns into a giant freak fest, with live music right on the street and parties in pretty much every single pub and nightclub on the strip and its surrounds. Gazebo Club, for just one example, is throwing a massive event with a lineup of DJs that kicks off at 7pm. Admisssion 300 baht.

Q Bar, one of Bangkok’s most popular nightclubs, has conjured up a sweet-sounding party for Saturday night, featuring the popular global party brand Hed Kandi. The whole place, on Sukhumvit Soi 11, will transform into a twisted funhouse complete with circus clowns, cotton candy and freaky balloons. Hed Kandi mainstays Lady Victoria and DJ Andy Daniels will be manning the decks. Tickets are 800 baht for costume-wearers, 1,000 baht for those without. Admission includes two free drinks.

Live music fans should check out the Bangkok Rocks Fetish Halloween event on Sukumvhit Soi 19, a five-minute walk from the Asok MRT and Sukumvhit BTS stations. The bondage fetish show starts at 10pm with a live band starting at midnight. There will also be a fetish costume contest with a bottle of premium whiskey as the prize. Tickets are 300 baht for men and 200 baht for women -- available at the door -- which includes a free bottle of beer or glass of wine.

Halloween in Bangkok isn’t really an affair for kids, though there are a few child-friendly activities in the shopping malls and international schools. Of these, our favorite is English Solutions' 7th Annual Scream for Charity at the Redeemer Church on Soi Ruamrudee. There will be a haunted house, bobbing for apples, bouncy castle, pin the nose on the pumpkin and face painting.