Scenes from last year’s pumpkin-carving carnage at Sheffield’s
So, what are you going as this Halloween? The Situation? Lady Gaga? Antoine Dodson? A BP exec? A Chilean miner? A healthcare bill? Tiger Woods? Wow. It’s been a long year.
I can’t reveal my costume plans until the top half arrives in the mail (USPS tracking reveals it’s currently being sorted in Elk Grove Village) and the bottom half—which I imagine as something glamorously tutu-esque—has been procured. I could really use a personal tulle shopper today. Volunteers?
Whatever you’re wearing, there are plenty of places to show off your look from tonight through Sunday. And if you’re going to the trouble of dressing up, you might as well make it all match—from your cat-eye makeup down to the drink in your hand. A few suggestions for pairing your bash with your beverage:
The Party: Sheffield’s holds its 25th annual pumpkin-carving party tonight at 6 p.m. in the beer garden. The Chaser will be in the house, knife in hand (yikes!), so check here for the recap tomorrow. Pumpkins and tools are provided, and at midnight the entire bar will glow by the light of patrons’ creations (all ages welcome; no cover).
The Poison: Tonight’s special is $4 pints of Magic Hat; pumpkin brews on offer include New Holland’s Ichabod, O’Fallon Pumpkin, Southern Tier Pumpking, and Brooklyn Post Road.
The Party: The Dana Hotel and its bar, Vertigo Sky Lounge, have been transformed into a Hitchcock-themed Tower of Terror promising “haunted floors, shocking elevator trips and a midnight murder surprise.” The elevator up to the bar can be terrifying enough on a regular night; we can only hope Vertigo keeps the line moving quickly so that party guests don’t end up wanting to dial M for murder.
The Poison: For $40 a head on Friday and Saturday, costumed revelers will have access to an open bar serving drinks such as the Psycho Shower (Tanqueray gin, grenadine, and cream). Cream? Chug too many of these on Friday, and you won’t be able to fit into your sexy-something-or-other getup come Saturday.
The Party: Wig alert! The Piggery is throwing a Blagoween bash starting at 9 p.m. Saturday with cash prizes for the best Blago and non-Blago costumes. Stop by for drink specials, free food, and more tracksuits than you’d ever want to see in one place.
The Poison: Order Effen. Enough said.
The Party: Manor is keeping the Mad Men costume craze alive on Friday with a midcentury soiree; $40 includes drinks served by Sterling Cooper’s sexiest secretaries. His hair will be slicked to within an inch of its life; her Betty pout is sure to attract a cadre of cocktail-buying admirers.
The Poison: What are they drinking? Martinis, of course. Or Scotch, neat. Bonus: Visit Seen on the Scene Monday for photos of Manor’s Saturday-night shindig, the Zombie Prom.
The Party: The Palace Nightclub (1242 W. Randolph St.; 312-772-6104), a coming-soon nightspot inside the Randolph Street megarestaurant Alhambra Palace, is hyping its “25,000 square feet of marble-encased decadence with 6,000 square feet of marble on the outdoor patio alone.” We’re not sure if, when the place officially opens to the public on November 4th, it will be a showstopper or an OMG jaw-dropper (waterfalls, gold lamé, copper and crystal galore), but clubbers can get a sneak peek this weekend at the Gypsy Curse Ball, Saturday night at 9 p.m. Rub elbows and more with “the beautiful Palace Girls and some of the lovely ladies of the Atlantis Gentlemen’s Club.” Tickets are $25 at the door.
The Poison: Dom Pérignon or Korbel? You call it.