Halloween is less than 2 weeks away and this year it falls on a Saturday, so it’s the perfect excuse to let loose and have a good time out on the town. If you’re looking for the ideal Halloween party to attend in the Capital City, look no further: Eventful Capital’s pulled together a list of suggestions to help you decide on your Halloween plans. There’s a good variety of Halloween-themed events happening this year so hopefully you’ll find the one fit for you and your crew. To get all the details, just click on each event poster below. Happy Halloween!
If you’re a University student (or if you just enjoy club hopping) and you want to go out on October 31, then Crawl-O-Ween is probably right up your alley. Labelled Ottawa’s biggest Halloween pub crawl, the event includes stops at the Liquor Store, The Whiskey Bar, Pub 101, the Green Room and the Cabin, all in the Byward Market.
If you can’t go out on Saturday (or you prefer not to), but want to hit up a heavy music show on Friday night, House of Targ is the place to be. You’ll get to rock out in costume (or not) with USA progressive metalcore band Forevermore, Ottawa metal group Maou Mindu, Ottawa metal formation Here Comes Bigfoot, Ottawa hardcore rockers The Great Diversion and Ottawa djent metalcore project Earthworks.
Over at Live on Elgin on Friday, October 30, the living dead will be taking over with a live show featuring surf rock noobs The Tackies and pop soul princesses Harea Band. Dance to classic Halloween tunes, consume spooky beverages (whatever that is), scarf down tons of candy and dress to impress as prizes will be awarded for best costumes.
For the second year in a row, the legendary Double Barrel and Timekode parties are teaming up and joining forces to bring you an epic Halloween dance party at Mercury Lounge that is sure to reach capacity early. If you want to dance to soul, funk, motown and vintage reggae, this is right up your alley.
Kinki is also offering a pre-Halloween party on Friday night and it’s free to attend. The event is part of their new After Dark Fridays series and will feature DJs Mace, Nauty Nyce and Eazy El Dee. Details below.
The Halloween Spook-Tacular at Cafe Dekcuf keeps it real with a free 2-hour tattoo session up for grabs for the best dressed. You’ll also get to rock out to Patron Saint of Plagues, Capital City Carnage, Sketchy Poutine and A Staggering Pace, who’ll all be performing live for the occasion.
Kinki is throwing a free Halloween party that’ll feature a Children of the Corn themed patio decor and a Cirque de Freak vibe inside that’s sure to create a festive atmosphere. DJs Ryan Labelle, Paulo Cardoso, Sean Vincent and Evan K will be spinning deep funky house grooves while you sip on voodoo shooters and creepy cocktails.
Over in Gatineau, L’As des jeux is hosting a geeked-out Halloween night featuring old school video games, board games, a live podcast, animation and a costume contest. Part of the proceeds will go to the SPCA, a non-profit animal shelter.
For Halloween, the Canadian Center for Gender & Sexual Diversity has teamed up with The PepTides to bring you DiscoApocalypse at St. Alban’s. Organizers promise a mesmerizing night of mind-blowing live music with the Peptides, who’ll be decked out as disco-disaster victims for the occasion.
Local rockers Hellbros invites you to rock out at their Halloweiner night at Zaphods on October 31. They’ll be joined by Ottawa metal band Black Oak Decline and Oshawa rockers Perfect Gentleman to help conjure up sounds of the season in a whirlwind of pumpkin smashing horror and delight.
The 6th Annual Zombie Strippers Halloween Show is happening at Babylon once again and this year it’s on Halloween night. Indulge in sexy burlesque and vaudeville performances, a live set by local garage band Nightshades and stick around afterwards for the costume prizes and a hot and sweaty dance session. This party sells out year after year so be sure to buy your tix in advance if that’s where you want to be on October 31.
The 2015 edition of Scream is going down at the EY Centre on October 31 and this year it’ll feature live sets by Blasterjaxx, Klingande, and others that have yet to be announced. If you’re into EDM, that’s probably where you’ll want to spend your Halloween night.
How amazing does a Prince-themed Halloween party sound? Pretty fucking awesome, right? That’s exactly what The Hornettes have cooked up for this year’s party at the legendary Blacksheep Inn in beautiful Wakefield. The local funk and soul band will be performing an hour-long set of their fave Prince jams and for the occasion they’ll be joined by the talented Bella Cat Blues. This is bound to sell out, so act quick if you want to join the fun.
If you feel like celebrating Halloween at Ritual this year, it’s all about Haunted House 3 with Toronto’s own DJ Charlie B who’ll be rocking the party with tunes to get you dancing til the early hours.
If you want to party and support local charities at the same time, you may want to hit up Barrymores’ 16th Annual Halloween Charity Ball, featuring 80s, 90s and Top 40 music and dubbed the “biggest Halloween party in Ottawa”.
The Rainbow Bistro invites you to Time to Wake the Dead happening Halloween night at the downtown venue. For the occasion, they’ll be featuring live performances by Big Jeezus Truck, the Ginger Fox Band and Fuzzy Bunny Slaughterhouse.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the iconic Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Petit Chicago invites you to dress in your most bizarre Brad, Janet and Dr. Frank-N-Furter costumes for a night filled with games, prizes, and music by DJ Z who’ll be spinning strictly vinyl.
On Saturday, October 31, the Mercury Lounge invites you to unleash your inner freak into the dark and deep oasis of the Disco Inferno dance floor. DJ Trevor Walker will be dropping the freakiest dark deep disco beats for your dancing pleasures. Cover is, of course, $6.66, but they’ll round it up to 7, cause you know, the penny is a thing of the past.
If you’re at the Mercury Lounge and want to hit up Overkill just below, or if you’re simply into Star Wars, then join the crew in the Pirate City of Mos Eisley on the planet of Tatooine for a little taste of danger and extreme characters from far away planets. DJ Dusty will be on the decks to take care of the beats.
By far the most underground Halloween party is being presented by SPOOR, the new night dedicated to techno for the true venturers who like to party a little bit harder and go that little bit deeper. The venue is being kept secret, and will be revealed at the last-minute, and that makes it that much more exciting and mysterious. Dress black, dress to kill.
Hip hop and Halloween go hand-in-hand at this party going down at the Elmdale Tavern. Make yourself a celebrity cut-out mask and join DJs So Nice, Atherton and guest MC Floydeeee for a night of classic party anthems. 
