Although Halloween has become an established focus of fetish celebration, it was anybody’s guess after 2020’s lockdowns and this year’s continuing covid problems what form, if any, Fetish Halloween 2021 might take.

The answer, when I started reviewing global event listings earlier this month, surprised me: there’s more happening on Halloween than you might have expected.

To many of those starved of fetish socialising for 18 months or more, this will be welcome news — a fact reflected in how quickly people have been snapping up party tickets when they’ve gone on sale.

So be warned: by the time you read this, some Fetish Halloween 2021 events may already have sold out, leaving you at best with the option to join a waiting list for last-minute returns.

This is already the case, for example, with Torture Garden’s three London Halloween nights, which are all now at the sold out/ waiting list stage. But they are still in this roundup because TG is obviously an important part of the overall partying picture this article is seeking to present!

The bulk of the events mentioned below are scheduled for sometime over Halloween weekend (October 29-31).

But we’ve also included a few parties that are taking place up to a week before or after the actual weekend. Some of these are tagged as Halloween parties, while a few others look as if they’re at least ‘Halloween friendly’.

Covid safety precautions

Of course, wherever you are in the world — and especially if you’re in the UK, where continually rising infection rates are alarming everyone except the government — you’re bound to be concerned about how individual party organisers plan to ensure the safety of those who venture through their doors.

So I’m glad to observe generally responsible attitudes among event hosts in the UK, despite the removal of legal mandates. Proof of double vaccination and/or negative covid tests are frequently stipulated as a condition of entry, and masking is often expected where appropriate.

Outside the UK, there are almost as many variations on rules and restrictions as there are Fetish Halloween 2021 hosts and countries.

In the Netherlands, for example, promoters have been obliged to shift their party times to late afternoon/early evening starts in order to comply with current midnight finish times.

Meanwhile in the United States, one of the country’s most renowned seasonal parties — Fetish Factory’s Halloween Fetish Ball — will take place against a background of perverse state legislation that appeared to actually ban event hosts from making proof of vaccination a condition of attendance.

Because of the variety of rules in place in different countries, we have not attempted to list the covid arrangements for each individual event mentioned in this round-up.

So we strongly advise, for any event mentioned here that interests you, that you follow our link to the event website or other info page and check the promoter’s statement about covid safety.

You’ll find that the best promoters leave you in no doubt as to what’s needed for you to gain access in a safe way. However, some just say they’ll be following local rules in force at the time of their event, leaving you to look elsewhere to find out what those are.

UTC times: a warning

You may have already noticed that Facebook Events pages often provide more accessible and comprehensive info than events’ own websites. But be warned: if you’re viewing its event listings from different time zones, Facebook’s adoption of UTC times instead of local times may cause confusion.

Where time zone differences are big enough, the UTC info for an event can make it look like it’s happening the day after it’s actually happening!

Savvy promoters have learnt to include local date and time info further down their FB event pages, where conversion to UTC times is avoided. But not all event hosts have cottoned on to this yet!

To avoid this problem, every event listed in this article is shown with local dates and times. And don’t forget: in the UK and various other locations, clocks go back an hour in the early hours of Sunday 31.

UNITED KINGDOM

London

ANATOMIE STUDIO TUESDAY ROPE JAM
October 26 18:30–22:30
ANATOMIE STUDIO Arch 113/Unit 17 Station Passage, London SE15 2JR
What imaginative ways will participants in Anatomie’s Halloween edition of its rope jam find to mark this special occasion?
amatomiestudio.com/events

CLUB ANTICHRIST
October 22 11:00–07:00
FIRE, 44 Parry St, London SW8 1RU
AntiChrist finally returns with a promise of “one huge mashup”. There’s no offical theme but it’s bound to be treated as an early Halloween outing by some of its fans.
clubantichrist.co.uk/events