Toronto Uncovered

Posts Tagged ‘Halloween’

For the last gazillion years my friends have organized a streetcar party on Halloween. The idea is simple: charter out a streetcar and bar hop until you can bar hop no more. Its always a smashing success. This year, I helped organize and recruit people, which wasn’t hard since I have been raving about it since last year. One thing that most people (including myself) didn’t realize is that you can charter out a streetcar for your own personal partying pleasure anytime you want. If you’re interested in organizing a similar type of event, here are some things you should know:

1. Cost: A single streetcar, which has capacity of about 70 people, is about $1000.00 for 4 hours. A double streetcar, which can hold upwards of 110-120, is about $1600.00 for 4 hours. Additional TTC info can be found here.

2. Bars: My friends contact different bars (along streetcar routes) ahead of time to make sure they are bar hop friendly. Any bar owner with even the slightest iota of business sense will jump at the chance to have 100 drunken patrons brought their bar.  Make sure you choose bars that don’t get too crowded as it can be difficult to round everyone up to head to the next stop. Some good bars include: Raq n Waq, The Rex, Midtown, Prohibition, and Bovine Sex Club.

3. Bar Treats: Most of the bars will offer complimentary shooters and/or food. Don’t be scared to ask for some extras, including easy entry and no cover.

4. Timing: We usually start early. If you only have 4 hours of streetcar,  5 bars to hit, and the last bar closes at 2am (making your latest arrival time 1am).. carry the 3.. and that gives about 1 hour at each bar when you factor in travel time. This year’s meet time was 6:30. Of course we didn’t actually leave the first bar until just after 7:30.  We arrived at the last bar around 12:30. Make sure to time everything out.

5. Theme: For Halloween, no other theme is necessary. If you are going to plan a streetcar party on a normal night a theme is a good idea.   Its way more hilarious for everyone to dress up, not to mention far more interesting for everyone on the streets and in the normal streetcars to see a TTC vehicle come to a stop and unload 100 dressed up, rowdy partiers.

6. Make it charitable: The cost per person is usually around 40.00. After all the expenses (ie. streetcar, wrist bands, on-street-car jello shots) are taken care of, you will definitely have some extra cash left over. We always donate the proceeds to a local charity.

The Streetcar barhop is a great time and an experience most people have yet to come across. Let me know if you want any more info or details on how we organized things this year.

I adore Halloween! I love getting dressed up in the costume of my choosing and parading around in public. I usually start planning months in advance,  and feel lucky to live in North America, where Halloween is taken most seriously.

The Get-Up

Its a great feeling when the light bulb above your head flicks on and the perfect get-up pops into your head. Now to find all the necessary pieces!  This year, I am going as Street Fighter’s Chun-Li, first female player in a fighting game and performer of the deadly ‘Lightening Kick‘. I prefer to make my own costumes. I’m not really a fan of the pre-packaged, store bought outfits (sorry, but if you cant be creative on Halloween, when CAN you be creative?). If you’re still searching for your costume try the following spots:

1. Value Village: Not only do they have the best selection of vintage wear, they have full section devoted to Halloween get-ups. I found the main part of my costume within two minutes of walking through the doors.

2. Goodwill: Also a good selection of vintage clothes with strong costume potential.

3. Kensington Market: In a previous post ‘Kensington Avenue‘ I mentioned a number of shops that have everything from tutus to wigs to army gear. You name it, they’ve probably got it. Most of these shops are also very ‘Halloweened up’ right now.

4. Yonge Street: I usually go to Yonge street for accessories (like Chun-Li’s wrist guards). There are lots of cheap dollar stores along Yonge and also some shops with some pretty crazy clothes – depending how adventurous you are!

5. Malabar: OK, so if you have decided to go with a pre-packaged, pre-made costume, Malabar is a pretty good choice. Its got a huge selection and lots of variety, but it’ll cost you a pretty penny and you do run the risk of running into someone with the exact same costume (embarrassing!).

The Get-Out

If you’re still searching for some good places to hit in Toronto Church Street is pedestrian only and ALWAYS a good time. Not surprisingly, the LGBT population doesn’t hold back. Almost all of the bars along Church Street throw big  parties, including contests for best and worst dressed.

For the last couple of years I have attended an annual Halloween Streetcar Barhop. Friends of mine have been running this amazing booze-filled debauchery for years. We paint the town red on our very own chartered streetcar, hitting about 5 or 6 bars throughout the night. This year sold out pretty quickly – I will post info and photos post party.

BlogTO also has a massive list of parties around Toronto. There is absolutely no shortage of things to do, and no excuse for not getting out there and letting loose!

What is your get up this year? Where did you get it? Where are you getting out to?