Where to Spend Halloween in Woodinville

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, which does not happen often and will not happen again for another five years. If you are in Woodinville and you want somewhere to actually go rather than another night of handing out candy at the door, here is the short version: Rooneys Sports Bar, Saturday October 31, karaoke from 9:30 p.m., and a costume raffle with $25 gift cards.

We are at 17626 140th Ave NE in the Woodinville Towne Center. Free parking in the lot, 21 and over all night, and the kitchen and bar run until 2 a.m.

Halloween Karaoke, 9:30 p.m.

Karaoke is a Friday and Saturday fixture here, hosted by Sandra Dee. Halloween is the same night with the volume turned up: same host, same setup, except most of the room is in costume and the song choices get considerably worse in the best possible way.

Sign-up is at the host stand once the night starts. There is no cover and no list to get on in advance. Turn up, put your name down, and you will get your turn.

If you have never done it here, the thing worth knowing is that this is a sports bar rather than a dedicated karaoke room. Nobody is auditioning. Half the room is watching something on a screen and the other half is cheering for whoever is up, and that takes most of the pressure out of it.

How the costume raffle works

This is the part worth reading properly, because it is simpler than most bar promotions and it costs nothing.

Wear a costume and the host hands you a raffle ticket. That is the whole entry requirement. You do not have to buy a drink, buy food, or spend anything at all to get one. No purchase, no minimum, no catch.

At the end of the night she draws tickets and there are $25 gift cards on the line. A handful of them, so your odds are considerably better than they look.

A few practical notes. It is a drawing, not a contest, so you are not being judged on craftsmanship and you do not need to have spent three weekends building something. A good costume and a last-minute costume have exactly the same chance. You do need to still be here at the end of the night when she draws, so if you turn up at 9:30 and leave at 11, you have bought yourself a ticket you cannot use.

If you are not singing

Plenty of people come on karaoke night and never touch the microphone, which is fine. There is a lot else going on.

College football runs all day Saturday, and we have 20 big-screen TVs and two projector screens across the room showing whatever is on. Ask the bar if you want something specific up.

In the game area there are two full-size pool tables, which is two more than most places around here still have, plus league-ready electronic dartboards, Golden Tee, a Godzilla pinball machine and shuffleboard. If you want more on that side of things, we wrote a whole piece on where to play pool in Woodinville.

There are also 30 bowls of Washington State pull tabs at the bar, which is its own kind of entertainment and occasionally pays for the round.

And the Touch Tunes jukebox runs between karaoke sets, so the music does not stop when the singing does.

Food, because it is going to be a long night

The kitchen is scratch pub food and it stays open until last call, which on a Saturday means a long way past when most kitchens in Woodinville have shut down.

The full menu runs until the late-night switch, and after that it is a fryer-only menu. Either way you are not going home hungry at midnight. House-ground burgers, hand-cut wings in five sauces, Mondo Nachos, bacon cheese tots, a Bavarian-style pretzel with house queso, bacon-wrapped jalapeños, coconut shrimp. The full menu is here.

If you want something ridiculous to finish on, the fried ice cream is the one thing on the dessert list and it is the right amount of excessive for Halloween.

Behind the bar there are 12 beers on tap, a long whiskey, bourbon and scotch list, and scratch cocktails. Happy hour runs 3 to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, so if you get here early you can start cheap: $5.50 tots and fries, $8.50 pretzel, $9.50 nachos, $12.50 sliders, and $1 off well drinks and canned beer.

Coming from the tasting rooms

Woodinville’s wine scene is the reason a lot of people are in town on a Saturday, and it has one consistent problem: the tasting rooms close early. Most of them are done between 5 and 6 p.m., and on Halloween that leaves a lot of people dressed up with nowhere to go and an evening that has barely started.

That gap is most of what we are for. We are a few minutes from the Hollywood and Warehouse districts, we are open until 2 a.m. every night of the year, and the kitchen does not close at nine.

So if your Halloween plan is tasting rooms in the afternoon and something else after, you do not need to drive to Bellevue or Seattle for it. Come down the hill, keep the costume on, and pick up a raffle ticket on the way in. We wrote more about that particular problem in what to do in Woodinville after the tasting rooms close.

Bringing a group

Halloween on a Saturday is a group night, and groups do better here with a bit of warning. If you are bringing eight or more and you want to sit together rather than spread across the room, call ahead and we will hold a section.

Call (425) 481-3586, or use the private events page with your date and headcount. A few days of notice is plenty.

Walk-ins are completely fine for anything smaller. No reservation needed.

The details

• What: Halloween Karaoke with Sandra Dee
• When: Saturday, October 31, from 9:30 p.m.
• Costume raffle: wear a costume, get a ticket, $25 gift cards drawn at the end of the night
• Cover: none
• Age policy: 21 and over all night, bring ID
• Kitchen and bar: until 2 a.m.
• Where: 17626 140th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
• Parking: free, in the lot
• Reservations: not needed, call for groups of eight or more

Costumes are encouraged rather than required, so come as you are if you would rather. You will just be watching other people collect raffle tickets.

See what else is on this week, or come find us any night until 2 a.m.