Harry, who resides at at New Britton House, and Baham, a Residential Care Worker, celebrated all things ghoulish at the annual Halloween Costume Party hosted by the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI).

Bahman Khosravi Djam

Friday, October 25 marked a very important day for Harry: it was finally time for the much-anticipated Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion (BACI) Halloween Costume Party! As the evening staff arrived to help Harry prepare his costume, he was already unrecognizable in his long-time favourite black skeleton outfit and silver face mask.

Harry in spooky character.

He carried with him his faithful Halloween companion: the spooky hand stick puppet. To ensure his skeleton costume was authentic and believable, Harry was very focused on ensuring all the details were present and correct. The transformation was impressive; he stayed in true skeleton character, right down to not removing his mask at any cost!

When we arrived at the Centre, we watched the guests appear in a variety of costumes­—from the cute, huggable panda bear to the spine-chilling Dracula. Fascinating Scandinavian displays stood at the front of the hall’s entrance, covered with Halloween decorations. We spotted a huge historical fireplace covered with spider webs and creepy giant insects and an authentic ‘spooky mansion’ piano that begged us to take pictures.

The dedicated staff and volunteers served up delicious pizzas, juice and fresh fruit desserts. And yes, Harry had to lift up his silver mask a few times to satisfy the Skeleton appetite! It’s not every day you get to dine in the company of a panda bear, an angel and action heroes.

Harry and Bahman.

After dinner, the beat of the music started to pump and Harry was excited to move over to the dance floor. He was pleased to have a cute white angel with wings come over and ask him to dance with her. Harry welcomed the offer and the company of a new friend. He also made friends with a daddy Dracula and his two action hero kids and they all hit the dance floor to listen to the music. The DJ spun a variety of great tunes—from the ‘oldies’ to pop and traditional Halloween anthems—which appealed to all age groups and encouraged plenty of participation on the dance floor.

Harry was happy to participate in the costume contest with all his new friends and the winners were announced at the end of the evening. In true community spirit, everyone chipped in to help tidy things up when the party came to an end.

The Halloween Costume Party was a huge success and the free parking was a great bonus. A special thanks to BACI for maintaining and planning this highly-anticipated annual Halloween event. It was a night of fun for persons served as well as family and staff!

‘Daddy’ Dracula hits the dance floor!