Adult Trick-or-Treating on the Docks

Halloween! That magical time when you get to pretend to be someone or something else. A time when it's okay to accept candy from strangers. And a time when you get to stay up past your bedtime eating your sugary treasure.

Alas, it is typically frowned upon for adults to trick-or-treat. Instead, we get to ooh and aah over adorable or scary costumes and be the givers of candy.

Until you move onto a boat.

Let's face it, the docks aren't the best place for a bunch of children running around in the dark. So, this year I decided to do something about it and arranged an adult event called "Trick or Drinks." Essentially, it was a roaming happy hour for marina liveaboards and guests. The group visited 6 different boats over a couple hour time period. Mimicking trick-or-treating, host boats provided an alcoholic beverage of their choice. Don't like beer? Tough! That's the "candy" at this boat. And just like kids that don't like Mounds bars but take them anyway, we drank and enjoyed the offerings at each location.

The best part? No one was left behind. The owners of host boats didn't have to wait around for us to come to them. They roamed with us so everyone could enjoy the festivities.

And, of course, costumes were encouraged!

A couple thoughts if you choose to coordinate a similar event:

1. Limit the number of host boats. This is mainly a safety concern as you don't want people imbibing too much alcohol when boats and water are involved.
2. Allow ample time for everyone to enjoy their drinks at each boat. Again, this is partially a safety concern. If you rush from boat to boat, people will end up drinking 6 or more drinks in an hour or less. That doesn't make for a safe night or a fun morning after.
3. Encourage all size boats to participate. People can hang out on the dock near boats that are too small to have everyone on board.
4. Choose a costume that allows you to easily get on and off any type of boat.
5. Add decorations for extra fun (see pictures below).

How do other marinas celebrate Halloween?

Classic games -- Twister and the Magic 8 Ball.

Boats provide the space (and the means) to hang things easily.

I love using the windows as a backdrop for decorations (especially at Christmas).

Our neighbor's boat.

 

The pumpkins on the docks will always make it through the night since there aren't random strangers passing by that wish to smash them.

Another neighbor's boat. Not sure I'd trust this captain.