A Very Venice Halloween

Venice was really the place to be this Halloween, with fun and activities going down from one end of town to the other. Trick or Treaters were all over the place, from the traffic jams of kids on the Walk Streets all the way to the beach. Suzy Williams did a Halloween show at the Townhouse, there were house parties left and right, and one could find ghosty fun pretty much anywhere you went.

The real Halloween crown jewel of Venice is Rialto, though. All the neighbors get in on it, decorating their houses and themselves all the way over the top.

This year featured a new Haunted House, and as I recently overcame my childhood fear of those things (via a legit squad of Zombie Killers at Knott's Scary Farm), and dove right in.

It was impressive for a neighborhood thing, with a scary soundtrack, and spooky things popping out around every corner.

The hardest part to go through was a room of hanging severed heads ... because ... come on.

There was a mystical green light to go through, which blinded you for the next round of things popping out. Awesome.

As ghoulish as it was, it was still an attraction for all ages, all the way down to tiny new baby, Winslow, hanging out here with his new puppy friend, Boots.

Things glowed in the dark, strobe lights flickered, and everyone ate it all up.

I caught my neighbor Russ while still getting ready. It was so fun at their house because they had a huge makeup table, a big box of wigs and costumes and accessories, so anybody winding up at their house had exactly no excuse not to get in the Halloween spirit.

As for myself, I slapped something together to walk around in, and lost my hat band (black leather with pink and orange pompom if anyone finds it in the Haunted House!), like you do at any good party. I loved seeing all my friends and neighbors (and people that may have been them, but I couldn't tell through their awesome costumes) out and about having fun so much that I didn't really mind losing it. (But feel free to send it over if found!)

One house had a Star Wars theme, the next was all orangey and traditional O.G. Halloween style.

My very favorite part of the entire holiday is seeing what the little kids are dressed as, and this year did not disappoint. I think the best one was a little Lego boy, but by that time my camera didn't have any more room on it!

I don't think I've ever seen bigger bowls of candy than this year, and watching the kids struggling down the sidewalks with their stuffed pillow cases full of sweets, I'm pretty sure that's right. Whoa.

I'm always happy to see the fire-breathing dragon house, and consider it the centerpiece of the whole Rialto shindig every year. This year there were a few Mother of Dragon Khaleesi's running around, so it was even better.

All I've heard was that everyone having a total blast, so I hope Halloween was crazy and fun and safe for you all, and that all that candy is being doled out responsibly today. Ha.

Thanks for all the fun, Venice ... Until next year, Goblins!