All the sober ways you can celebrate Halloween in Notts

Halloween is a big night in Notts, and the lead-up is equally as important as the day itself. You don’t have to be into the idea of getting drunk as the Crisis Funhouse Allnighter at Rock City to have a great Halloween – there are so many sober ways you can celebrate Halloween at university in Nottingham.

Of course, you can go on a night out without drinking, but this list is here to provide you with some wholesome alternatives. For those of you who want to enjoy Halloween sober in your accommodation, in Nottingham City and on the university campus, here’s a few ideas to help you have a spooktacular Halloween.

Costume shopping at Luvyababes

Costume shopping is a pretty big deal in Nottingham thanks to a shop in Victoria Centre called Luvyababes. Thinking about and shopping for a costume is a really fun sober Halloween activity and Luvyababes has everything you could ever be looking for. The shop has many pre-prepared costumes including Little Red Riding Hood, circus clowns, bumble bees, vampires, and almost anything else you can imagine.

As well as these pre-prepared costumes the shop has bits and pieces to put together almost any costume you like. It has a selection of tights and socks, wigs and face paint as well as fake facial hair and props such as plastic guns and vampire teeth. It even sells rainbow squid hats, as modelled here.

The Nottingham Ghost Walk

The Nottingham Ghost Walk is a great way to learn about the city’s fascinating history. It starts in Nottingham’s oldest inn, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, every Saturday at 7pm. The walk finishes in the caves below Ye Olde Salutation Inn and a standard ticket is £9. The tour lasts for an hour and a half and extra tours take place in the month of October from 21st to 31st October, as the ghost walk is such a popular Halloween activity.

Starting in Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is the perfect way to spark the Halloween spirit. The inn houses a model ship called the Cursed Galleon, it’s said that anyone who touches the ship is met with a gruesome fate. The inn also has a room called the Haunted Snug, which houses a portrait of a lady whose eyes follow you wherever you go. Hopefully describing the spooky details of the inn where the tour starts will inspire you to find out about the rest of the tour.

Halloween movie night

This is a perfect way to celebrate Halloween sober, on your own or with friends. There are so many spooky or scary films that are perfect for Halloween. Or you could always watch a Halloween movie at the cinema, for example, the Savoy cinema is currently showing Five Nights at Freddie’s. If you have Netflix or Disney+, then there are many movies for a night in. To get you started, I have included a list of some of our favourite films and series below.

Halloween film recommendations on Netflix:

Halloween

Hotel Transylvania

Saw

Scary Movie

Evil Dead Rise

Apocalypse Clown

Jaws

Scream

Zombieland

Harry Potter

A Quiet Place

Netflix Series suggestions:

Wednesday

Vampire Diaries

Halloween film recommendations on Disney+:

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Hocus Pocus

Muppets Haunted Mansion

Cruella

Into the Woods

Maleficent

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is a classic Halloween tradition and a fun way to celebrate Halloween sober. I loved carving pumpkins with my friends from uni as I usually do it with my friends and family at home. Carving pumpkins is both nostalgic and a good way to be creative. All you need is a couple of kitchen knives, a spoon, a pen and all your creativity.

You want to start by drawing a face on your pumpkin, then cut out the top and scoop out the seeds which you can keep to bake. Once the pumpkin is hollow you can cut out the lines you drew. Now you have a Jack o’lantern for your doorstep.

Warm Halloween drinks on campus

There are numerous cafés on campus where you can have a warm, autumnal non-alcoholic drink, including Costa Coffee, Portland Coffee, and Hallward Library café. These drinks are all sure to make you feel the Halloween spirit. At Costa, you can get a gingerbread and cream latte or a maple hazel latte, while at Portland Coffee, you can get a pumpkin spice latte and, if you fancy a sweet treat, a pumpkin spice cake. However, I think my personal favourite Halloween-y drink on campus would have to be the pumpkin spice latte at the café in Hallward Library – 10/10.

Related articles recommended by this author

•All the best ways to celebrate Halloween as a Notts student

•The ultimate student guide of all the events in Notts for Halloween 2023

•I built a Halloween costume for under £10, here’s how all Notts students can too