Halloween’s on a Saturday this year. In Vegas that means the whole town turns into one giant costume party from Thursday night through Sunday brunch, and if you don’t have a plan by now you’re going to end up standing in a club line dressed as a ketchup bottle wondering where it all went wrong.
So here’s the plan. These are the grown-up spots: the bars that went all in on decorations, the parties where the costume is the ticket, and a couple that get a little spicy. If you’ve got kids to hang with first, our Halloween guide for kids, teens and families has the trick-or-treat side covered. Drop them off, then come back here.
The spicy stuff
Sin City Halloween Ball
This is the big one. If you’ve lived here a while you probably still call it the Fetish & Fantasy Ball, which is what it was called for about 25 years before it got renamed. 2026 is the 30th anniversary, and it’s back at The Theater at Virgin Hotels (the old Hard Rock, where it lived for years) on Saturday, Oct. 31. The theme is Lost Vegas Wasteland.
Here’s what you need to know. You don’t get in without dressing up. Costume, fetish wear, fantasy stuff or formalwear, those are your options. Jeans and a cat-ear headband aren’t going to cut it. Lots of leather, lots of lingerie, lots of people who’ve been planning their outfit since July. No nudity though, they’re strict about that, so it’s more “see and be seen” than anything actually wild.
It sells out. Buy ahead. And plan your ride home, because Paradise Road on Halloween night is a parking lot.
Zombie Burlesque
It’s been running at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood forever, and Halloween is exactly when it makes the most sense to finally go. The setup is a zombie apocalypse where the undead have taken over and are putting on a burlesque show, so it’s campy, it’s dirty-funny and there’s a lot of skin. There’s an 8pm show on Halloween night. It’s 16+, so it’s not full-on adult, but don’t bring your mom.
Haunted Brunch at Rio
The press materials literally call it “spooky, sexy, and sinfully fun,” and that’s honestly accurate. It’s a horror brunch show with acrobatics, comedy, dancers and people jumping out at you while you eat, and you can get bottomless mimosas depending on the ticket. It moved to The Venue at Masquerade Village inside the Rio this year (fourth year in town, it used to be in the Arts District and then on the LINQ Promenade). Tickets start around $57 and it runs through Oct. 31.
It’s 15+, but it’s really built for bachelorette parties and a table of friends who started drinking at 10am. Wear a costume. Everybody else will.
Bars that went all in
The Haunting on Spring Mountain at Sand Dollar
The Sand Dollar turned into a full haunted house for October, and the band still goes on at 10 every night. It’s Cocktail Kingdom’s Halloween pop-up (same people behind Miracle and Sippin’ Santa), and Sand Dollar is one of the first spots in the world to have it. Spooky drinks, decorations from floor to ceiling, live music nightly, all month.
Go midweek if you actually want to see the decorations. Here’s our full rundown on Sand Dollar’s Halloween takeover.
The Haunted Inn at Palms
Palms has been on a roll with these pop-ups. It did Santa’s Saloon at Christmas and Camp Palms: No Kids Allowed over the summer, and now it’s The Haunted Inn, a fake rundown haunted hotel with characters, comedy and live entertainment wandering around while you drink.
The drinks are the reason to go. They come in poison bottles, creepy doll-head mugs, blood bags, mini coffins and skeleton hands, and yes, you’re going to post every single one. No cover. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday from 5pm until Oct. 31, and it’s 21+. It’s an easy first stop before a night out, or a date night that doesn’t cost $200.
Tiki in Wonderland at Glitter Gulch Tiki
Okay, technically this isn’t Halloween. Glitter Gulch Tiki (113 N. 4th St., right off Fremont) turned itself into Alice in Wonderland for October, with five limited cocktails and decorations to match. But it’s weird and a little trippy, and it’s right in the middle of downtown, which is exactly where you’re going to be on Halloween night anyway. Make it your pregame before the Canopy.
Halloween night downtown
Costumes Under the Canopy at Fremont Street
Fremont Street throws the biggest free costume party in town on Oct. 31. There’s live music on every stage, a silent disco, food trucks and a costume contest with $8,500 in cash prizes split between three winners. If you put real work into your costume, this is where it pays off. Literally.
Alter Ego, the Fremont Street cover band everybody’s seen at least once, does a Halloween set as Alter Igor on the 1st Street Stage starting at 8. It’s free and you just walk in. It’s also packed shoulder to shoulder by 10, so if you need a break, walk east past 4th Street into Fremont East and grab a drink somewhere with a patio.
The clubs
Every big club on the Strip throws a Halloween weekend: Omnia, XS, Zouk, Marquee, Hakkasan, LIV at Fontainebleau, all of them. With Halloween on a Saturday, expect Friday and Saturday to be the two most expensive nights of the fall. Headliners get announced late and the lineups floating around online don’t always match each other, so check the club’s own site before you buy anything.
Two tips from people who’ve done it. Clubs have costume rules, and fake weapons and full face masks usually don’t make it past the door, so check before you build your whole look around a plastic chainsaw. And book your ride home early or pick a club close to your hotel, because surge pricing at 3am on Halloween is brutal.
If you want to actually get scared
Universal Horror Unleashed at AREA15 is open year-round, but October’s when it hits hardest. Four full haunted houses built by Universal’s theme-park team, with bars inside so you can work up some courage first. Weeknights are way cheaper than weekends. It’s in our Halloween guide along with Asylum & Hotel Fear and the rest of the haunts.
Where to crash
If you’re making a whole weekend of it, the Westgate has a Halloween Suite and a Day of the Dead Suite you can book. Is it necessary? No. Is it a pretty great place to come back to at 4am with your makeup half melted? Yes.
