York Halloween Meet

I’m not sure if that’s the same everywhere, but it seems like lolitas are always waking up from a summer hibernation for October. Many genuinely love Halloween, many are just here for the cute sweater weather and either seems like an excuse to throw a meetup. So to kick off the spoopy season I went to a meetup with the York comm, who is also waking up from its slumber.

| Metamorphose Polka Dots Shirring Pinafore JSK | Innocent World Millefeuille Tulle Lace bolero | Cutie Creator headbow |
Peacockalorum underskirt | Low Down and Dandy choker | GlassesLit glasses | everything else is offbrand | 

One day I will actually take a course in how to photograph make up. I tried something different this time, inspired by
Okumura Yusuke's tutorial, but of course none of that is showing up, not even on ugly selfies :P 

Oh, putting together a coord for this meet was such a struggle! Halloween and spooky stuff are not my forte at all! While I have that one Gothic coord, since I hadn’t met the people at the meet before, I wanted to go with something that better represents my usual style. This coord literally went through so many incarnations, from Glinda the Good Witch, a Beauxbatons student, the White Dame, until eventually landing on this “ghosts are white, so why not shiro” thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very happy with how the outfit came out, it was just a struggle to come up with something that at least tried to be on theme. And as usual my makeup didn’t photograph, even though I tried something completely different. Oh well...

The meet itself started off with a trip to York Dungeon, which is one of those actor-led tourist attractions. I’ve never been to this one before, I visited Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh years back, which is a bit different (it’s more historical, whereas the York one is more entertainment), so I was a little worried how I’d cope with the jump scares, however, it was perfectly fine. As in, there were only a few jump scares and there was nothing trauma-inducingly terrifying (for an adult at least, there was one kid who wasn’t keen on some parts). Plus, one of the friends I made at the meet was also not keen on jump scares, so when it got a bit much, we could support each other. If you’re in the area and actor-led, very-loosely historical entertainment with some jump scares and gloomy atmosphere is your thing, then it’s worth it, you’ll enjoy yourself. We had so much fun that we even decided to get the official photos (with four of us it worked out a £5 each to get all four photos, which isn’t bad at all).

Official photo 1: admitting our crimes. I am not ashamed! 

The Viking photo in Viking York. Pretending like I wouldn't be the first one to die...

After that we headed to the House of the Trembling Madness, which is something between a pub and a bistro (i.e. prettier than a pub, but boozier than a bistro). It was a welcome break, mostly for our feet, because even though we prepared for rain, wind and cold, only the wind was really there. I even carried my BtSSB parasol all this time to not open it even once. We had some food and drink at Trembling Madness and the event host gave us little goodie bags (such a cute gesture!). However, we didn’t stay there long. York is full of people and tourists on any given Saturday, but that one also happened to be Saturday of the York Races, which meant even more people. So since there was a family waiting around for a table and we were pretty much done, we got up and took some photos in the rest of the place, which was pretty fancy!

I've been expecting you, Mr Darcy!

Oh no, not the babies! (Well, actually, yes, the babies!)

A pumpkin photo so that you can't accuse me of not trying to be spoopy.

Goodie bag! 

The crow is not broken - I had to get his legs out to get the paper out to activate it. But then it started to annoy me (it's
motion activated), so I put the paper back, but lack the strength to push the legs back in. Oops!

Of course, when in York you can’t not go to the Imaginarium, so   that was our next stop. I always forget to take pictures of it, but sort of made up for it this time by taking some in their newly opened Christmas section. Imaginarium is kind of like a darker Alice in Wonderland shop, where you never fully know what you’ll find (will it be funny, will it be weird, will be enchanting or all of the above?), but you’re excited to find out. It’s great if you’re shopping for gifts or home décor. But now that the Christmas section is open, I simply have to go back there soon! Even though I don’t have: a) a Christmas tree; b) space for a Christmas tree; or c) hospitable conditions for a Christmas tree (for a week and a half now we’ve had a kitten who’d be more than happy to explore – read: destroy – anything like a delicate decorative bauble).

You can't stop me being excited at Christmas! 

Look at this winter wonderland! Look at it! It's perfect!

Too cute

This one I want for myself!

Describe lolita fashion in one Christmas ornament. 

So many Christmassy animal decorations, very whimsical indeed!

From there we went for yet more aesthetic window shopping and stopped by The Yorkshire Soap Co. This is another great place if you need cute gifts in a pinch, as their novelty soaps and bath truffles look good enough to eat (please don’t) and there is something for every budget. Some of these bits, both from Imaginarium and The Yorkshire Soap Co., will probably make it into the Winter ILD raffle, as well as maybe gifts for people, since these guys have also started stocking Christmas stuff.

Please, don't try to eat the soaps, even when they're displayed like cakes.

Perfectly glittery - still not edible.

A box of four of these bath truffles would set you back by a mere £10. They're not tested on
animals and vegetarian friendly too (some products use honey), so a perfect gift!

Floral soaps, such aesthetic, very Classic.

Looks divine and smells divine.

Little jars of bath fizzies - still look like from a retro confectionery.

Generally, it seems like this York outing was way more about Christmas than about Halloween, certainly in the latter half of the day. Most of us parted ways after that, promising to do more meetups in York and coming up with some ideas. Since I already came all that way braving the rail strike (and since I really, absolutely, wholeheartedly love York), I stayed a bit longer and did some solo shopping. That took me first to Betty’s, which had Halloween bakes on display (they won’t get into the Christmas spirit until November at least) and then to KätheWohlfahrt. Or in layman’s terms, the Christmas Shop. The company originated in Rothenburg, Germany, and is an all-year-round Christmas decorations shop, which now has several branches across Europe (and one in the USA). Many of their products are handcrafted and designed by independent artists, all made out of high quality materials. Unfortunately, photos are not permitted inside, but trust me: it’s a complete Christmas wonderland dream! It’s so gorgeous and festive, that it’s super weird to go outside after a visit and not see any snow. However, I will be writing up more about both of these in due course, most likely for Wunderwelt Libre, although if you’re very interested, then keep an eye out at the bottom of this blog, because who knows where things might actually end up.

This is the Small Betty's (the one which normally doesn't have a queue outside). 

Spooky chocolates and cakes!

They look magical and too good to eat. Though I still would...

Christmas all year round!

Lots of very traditional decorations for your Winter Wonderland dream

I just feel like a little kid again when I look at this, it brings me the purest kind of joy!

After an obligatory stop in Lush, where I also didn’t buy anything, I decided that it might be best to start heading home. Unluckily, while the strike didn’t get me in the morning and I got on my direct train fine, I missed the last direct one back, as well as the last one back from Leeds. But luck still looked after me and I caught both the fast train to Leeds (literally 5 minutes after me getting to York station) and from there, even though all Bradford trains were cancelled, I could get one to Shipley, from where it was only a short walk to a bus that’d take me right outside my home (and which was also patiently waiting as I got on). All this wandering around York had both satisfied my need to be there and awakened the need for more. Damn my plans for leaving Yorkshire!

Have you had any Halloween meets yet? Planning on attending any? Are you more of a Halloween or Christmas person? What’s your favourite place that you’ve been to that you can’t get enough of?