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Eastgate goes Mexican for Halloween

Halloween Events & October School Holidays in Gloucestershire

This October Half Term, children visiting the Eastgate Shopping Centre, Gloucester between 11am and 3.30pm on Thursday, 27 October will be ‘trick and treated’ to a day of spooky ‘Funday of the Dead’ Halloween activity.

The Day of the Dead festival is infamous around the globe and originates from Mexico where thousands of people, each year, dress up as skeletons and what is often known now as ‘Candy Skulls’ - a more colourful and fluorescent version.

This Halloween, the Eastgate Shopping Centre are taking inspiration from this and will be getting the ‘little horrors’ of Gloucester to go on a Skull Sticker Hunt.
The children will be asked to visit four specially selected shops to collect a skull sticker. Once the series of four has been collected, they will receive a TY Screech Beanie (while stocks last) and entry into a free draw win a special Halloween prize.

At 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2.00pm and 3.00pm, Anton Ghoul will go straight to the jugular and will entertain them with juggling shows.

Anton’s juggling skills have spanned over 15yrs of training and performance. He can do up to 5 Clubs and 7 Balls but can wow his audiences with just three objects.

Also in his repertoire is hat manipulation where every part of his body is used to move those top hats from foot to head and hand to mouth!

Anton spent 2 years working with Team Yomega, the UK’s yo-yo team and toured the UK and Europe demonstrating the art of Yo-yoing. Anton then became the 98-99 English Yo-Yo Champion.

Anton’s balance skills range from a spinning ball on a 6ft pole balanced on his chin to a rose balanced delicately on his nose, then deftly caught between his teeth!

With his sharp wit and quick thinking, Anton’s shows always encourages the children to get involved with his ghoulish activities.

The little monsters will also be asked to pull faces like little monsters in a “Gurn and Earn” Facebook competition.
Invited to screw up and distort their face to try to make themselves look as scary as possible, they will then have their photo taken and all pictures uploaded to a special album on the Centre’s Facebook page. They will then be asked to find their photo, like and comment on it and share it with their friends. The two pictures with the most likes will both receive a Halloween prize.

The Eastgate Shopping Centre are also inviting children to dress up in ghastly grab, frightening frocks and scary suits or as their favourite Halloween character for a Fancy Dress Parade at 2.30pm. There will be prizes for the scariest boy and girl.

Finally, even the Centre’s retailers are getting into the ‘spirit’ of the occasion. They will be carving and decorating pumpkins in a style that either reflects their shop name or the products or services they sell. All photos will be placed on the Centre’s Facebook page and shoppers invited to vote for their favourite.

“Halloween grows in popularity each year and our spooky fun is always well received by the children,” says Jason Robinson, Centre Manager. “The children love the sticker hunt and the fact that, for once, they can pull faces and not get told off!”

“It is also great that are retailers want to get involved and we are looking forward to seeing just how creative they can be.”