Halloween 2020: events and things to do

(Image credit: DesignMyNight)

published 29 October 2020

This year has been a frightening one, but if you’re up for a few more scares then there’s many fun ways to celebrate Halloween.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve cocktail recipes

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This Halloween weekend Proud Embankment has turned its two-story cabaret club into a sinister space, hosting an All Stars extravaganza featuring Denise Van Outen. Opening its doors at 6pm, guests are invited to settle into the supernatural soiree before enjoying a welcome drink and a three-course menu during the titillating show. Expect a stage spilling with talent and some ghostly surprises along the way.

The Forbidden Forest Cinema is one of this year’s best Halloween events. In traditional pop-up fashion, it’s disappearing on 8 November, giving you a limited time to enjoy the spooky experience. The movies you can watch include the likes of Hocus Pocus, Beetlejuice and Ghostbusters. With cinemas exempt from the 10pm rule and social distancing in place, it’s another reason to stay out late and swap your sofa for the big screen.

For meat aficionados, temper needs no introduction. This Covent Garden restaurant specialises in barbecued meats, and to celebrate Halloween the team have created a Dia de los Muertos feasting menu. Starting with a complimentary margarita, things will heat up with smoked short rib tacos, before moving onto smoked pork and white hominy pozole with a side of coal roasted plantain and mole negro. Finishing the meal as it started, dessert is a slab of boozy rum banoffee.

If your hometown falls into the Tier 3 category or you just can’t leave the house as often as you like to, there’s another way to get your booze fix this Halloween. The Cocktail Man has rustled up a very special and limited edition cocktail for All Hallow’s Eve and it includes four blood orange margarita serves. Packaging premium tequila, blood orange liqueur and slices of dehydrated blood orange, you can raise a toast to the spirits at home.

The Vaults are hidden underneath Waterloo station and the team are known for their unusual and politically-charged storytelling events. This new socially distanced theatrical show, which is inspired by Shel Silverstein’s poem Billy Markam And The Devil, written for Playboy in 1977, will take its audience to the ring of hell to watch the devil get hitched. The catch? Ticket holders have to lie, cheat and sin their way into the chapel.

Magic and mind reading might seem like things you’d entertain small children with, but Sonic says different. Tony Middleton is the prestigious winner of the Magic Circle’s Stage Magician of the Year, and this Halloween you have the chance to sit in on his intimate show in the drawing room of one of London’s five-star hotels. For just over an hour, the mastermind will talk you through magic’s history before submerging you in some mind-boggling feats.

For many cities across the UK, going out for Halloween just isn’t an option this year, but not all is lost. There are a handful of unique online events that can entertain you in the comfort of your own home. Jack the Ripper should need no introduction, but if you’re unfamiliar with the hair-raising tale, this virtual murder mystery will get you clued up in no time. Join the experience to untangle the truth from your guide and get a full picture of the East London legend.

Dirty Martini is a reliable bar to lean on come Halloween. Each and every year, without fail, the team creates a handful of limited edition cocktails for the spooky season and 2020 is no different. Book a table and pick between Heaven Sent or the Devil’s Advocate. If you’re a fan of rum, the latter comes mixed with Bacardi Spiced rum, Chambord, raspberry, vanilla, citrus and a couple of drops of Ms Better’s Bitters.

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