For some New Orleanians, Halloween is the second best time of the year and it’s not just because cooler weather has finally arrived… It is because of the costumes.

In NOLA, we take our costuming seriously. In any city, once you have grown up past the age of trick-or-treating, the best part of Halloween is the parties. Well, in New Orleans, we don’t need an excuse to throw a festive occasion, so how are we to differentiate a Halloween party from any other day of the year? The answer is simple….the costumes.
In other towns, Halloween costumes are about the shock factor. Women dress in scandalous and risqué attire and men dress as a gory and bloody something or other. In New Orleans it takes a bit more than blood, guts and cleavage to make us do a double take, so instead people choose a more creative route.

In the city of ghosts, voodoo and vampire novels, there is no lack of inspiration for your evenings mask. From Marie Laveau and voodoo dolls to the silver men who pose in the streets of the French Quarter, the costume ideas are never dull. The true power of these costumes lies in the detail work. The more detail, the better and I am talking head to toe detail! Store bought costumes are no match for the home made, NOLA costume with accessories hand picked from thrift shops and antique stores lining river road. It is the one city where Halloween does not equal slutty costume night and a girl can feel comfortable to look as creepy or funny as she pleases.

I hope you started working on your costumes already, because Halloween is finally here and these details don’t pop up over night!

Wait a minute, she said Halloween is the second best time of the year. Well, if costumes are your fancy, Halloween is merely a staging event for a more prominent costumed holiday on the NOLA calendar…