~ Curious Charlie ~

Spooktober Halloween Festival! @ Saturday, November 05, 2016

October 31st 2016

Spooktober Halloween Festival in St Kilda marks its 4th birthday this year. A family friendly event but with something for the older kids too, with dress-up competitions, trick or treating, games & activities and of course the haunted house!

Held at St Kilda Town Hall, it was the town to spend your Halloween/Melbourne Cup Weekend in, with events at Luna Park and all over town. Town hall itself was transformed into two haunted houses, with food trucks and games on the grounds.

Why does the funeral home have a hearse? Can I get this for my funeral? I'd be sure to stop traffic one last time. :P Last time we saw a horse and carriage-ish hearse it was 1851!

We were disappointed not to see a pumpkin carving contest, or decorate a cardboard pumpkin activity. At home I'd buy a plain kraft brown one to paint, but can see that that's going to take a while. Skip that step and supply orange pumpkins to draw "cut outs" on and adore with crafty things?

There were around 10 games and activities in the grounds which required tickets, most games are $2, but for $5/7-ish you could decorate a cookie/cupcake.

The jumping castle/slide was a hit with the younger kids, while I was too afraid of heights and that slope! We may have spent too much money on playing that zombie game determined to win. Overestimating my abilities there.

You need to take out four to get a nerf gun. I didn't get it, but came back after the show and after 7 more shots I did it. I didn't win, but I did get a participation star. :P I thought if the kids could do it I could. Wrong. I can beat almost anyone at a maths game or Scattergories but fail in gym class.

The spider toss was an interesting one, it was said it can be done, and way by a rare few. Carni folk, is how I'd describe the games host, we challenged him to show us how it's done. After about 20 shots he gave up. XD

Does that head look tiny to you too? I feel like this was meant to be the grim reaper but that's the wrong head. XD

For trick or treat there's a series of candy carts strategically placed around the venue to ensure you get the chance to see everything. It's almost impossible not to get distracted!

I borrowed lab partner & jas's candy stash for this shot, three people's worth of candy. Also the only thing I actually ate was the lollipops. The sherbet might be added to a pavlova.

Between the three of us we tried three different places, to maximize coverage. :P

Taco Truck - Chicken, fish and beans. Those were the three tacos we ate. The fish needed a squeeze of lime, but otherwise quite good, though the bean was the highlight. On the smaller side it wasn't really worth $7 (the bean) otherwise $6-7 is the standard taco. You'll need 3 for a meal plus snacks. Is life expensive, or do I just not make enough?

The best fish taco I've ever had was at Maya in South Yarra, the secret is apple matchsticks. Unfortunately their tacos are quite oddly floury!

The award for the longest wait for a food truck ever goes to Pizza Wagon, worth the wait? Not particularly. 30min waits. We had the mushroom with a leaf $14. It was good though nothing amazing. Thin based woodfire. The best pizza we've had was at that place near the beach in South Melb, DOC.

Snaggas and Tacos were the most popular food trucks on site, our vote for the best dish would be Snaggas's burgers! We had the wagyu and oh wow that beef patty was very good! It's all about the patty and bun. The bun was fine, not the oily trendy burger bun but an upgrade from the supermarket type. It was seriously delicious and nothing like the trendy burgers of YOMG and Royal Stacks and co. I felt like all the magic was from that patty. The sausage while it was good didn't blow us away (jas that's not funny, eat your sausage).

Here's to hoping they'll come to the city food truck park!

OMG it's the Red Devil! I love seeing cosplays from shows I'm currently watching. We would have loved to gone as the Chanels! Missing our comic con and co days.

The costumes were often an eye sore for us as they were kmart not homemade actual cosplays save for a couple. Witches, zombie-fied characters, bloodied somebodies and lots of little girls in denim underwear (harley quinn). Kids these days are getting sluttier younger, in an age where parents buy their kids drinks.

A community event rather than cosplay, amateur hour. Though the older kids came out to play after dark and included: Kiss, Thor, Belle, Jane (rare) and Jack Skellington and Sally.

After dark is when the fun begins! Well after the candy hunt.

Jack Skellington and Sally - They say his suit was quite easy to create.

Dinning under the fairy lights, there should be more outdoor twilight events!

Due to my non-specialization I couldn't get decent pics inside the haunted house, so here's a selection from The Age. Nothing beats been there in person though, as the lighting in pics often ain't the same in person. Yes it's expensive, but it's just an annual thing. There's also a much scarier asylum (now psych wards or rehab, where you're highly medicated). After been in one ourselves we realize that external things aren't that scary, it's when your brain goes haywire and starts attacking itself, that's the truly terrifying thing. The asylum was just like my neighbous off their meds really. :P

The haunted house and asylum were cool but I prefer the house, there was a living room, kitchen, dinning and yard, plus lots of corridors. The dinning room was from another era 1800s Victorian feel, when vampires were at their prime.

Our favourite rooms was most brightly lit, as other rooms had mood lighting. Dinner with the Bones Family? :P Yes we came in costume. No I wasn't turned into a doll.

When looking for pics of the event we came this one from a few years ago. XD

How did you celebrate Halloween? Here for most it marks the start of exams.