It's like stepping into a Cadillac for party monsters. You board a bus and music is blasting from every direction, techno-coloured lighting is igniting the senses, and 50 people are losing their minds to the flow of tequila and the sinful indulgence of Halloween night.

"It's the craziest party that you can imagine on eight wheels," said Peter Verge, veteran MC for BustLoose.com, a party-event planner. "People are just yelling at people out the windows, they're dancing on stripper poles, they're just partying."

Verge joined up with BustLoose.com in 2004 and never looked back. He'll be working this October 31, but he told the Georgia Straight that he hoped nobody else was.

"It's just one of those things where you never know what is going to happen," he said. "Especially with Halloween, where you get people just doing the craziest things that you can imagine; stuff you can't print."

BustLoose.com will be throwing two Halloween club crawl parties in Vancouver this year, adding to the countless other events that will be going on in the city. Jordan Kallman, the company's program coordinator in Vancouver, told the Straight that Canada-wide, Halloween is now the biggest night of the year for his company, bringing in more people and more money than New Year's Eve.

"Halloween is definitely the most popular night in all of our cities," he said. "And I think it is just because people have such a good time dressing up and coming out….It makes for an evening where you can kind of be someone other than yourself."

Kallman is not alone in his excitement for the celebration of all things wicked. The big parties this year mean big money for the entertainment industry.

John Teti is president of BarWatch, an organization of Vancouver bar and nightclub owners. He told the Straight that depending on the night of the week that Halloween falls on, bars and clubs can expect to see a revenue spike of 15 to 100 percent.

If Halloween falls on a weekday, as it does this year, Teti explained, many clubs are able to make a big night out of an evening that they normally might have spent closed. In addition to parties taking place on the actual night of Halloween, clubs are able to throw weekend costume parties on the Friday and Saturday nights before October 31. They might also hold a private or industry party on Monday or Tuesday, and then have club crawls stop by earlier in the evening on October 31, before the actual Halloween parties begin.

"We're trying to have people come out and let their hair down and have a good time," Teti said. "That's what we're trying to sell….and Halloween is a built-in promotion."

Asked how Halloween overtook New Year's Eve as the biggest party occasion of the year, Teti said that it was all about letting people delve into their darker side.

"One of the obvious reasons is that you're in costume, so you're in character. You're not yourself; you're portraying someone else," he noted. "And a lot of times, that person has a darker side. So you may drink a little more; you may party a little more. You get to play a role, so the whole thing is a pile of fun." Inhibitions, or a lack thereof, is the key point.

This Halloween, Student Tours will be competing with BustLoose.com for costume-clad club-crawl patrons. Established in 1994 by a former employee of BustLoose.com, Student Tours now hosts what it claims is the biggest Halloween party in the city.

Greg Marks, director of operations for the company, broke down Student Tours' plans for the holiday. A yet-to-be-determined number of bus tours will depart from three different locations, crisscrossing through a total of 15 different bars and nightclubs in the city, with each tour hitting four stops.

To manage such an operation, Marks continued, a paid and volunteer staff of roughly 200 people will be on hand. And if previous years are any indication, 3,000 to 4,000 people will take part, each paying $30 a ticket plus drinks.

"As far as the kids know, they start somewhere, they go to a few different bars, and they don't know which ones or when," Marks said.

Halloween is a special time of the year for him. The first club crawl Marks went on was a Halloween party. "I was just blown away by it," he recalled.

Not to be left out are the clubs themselves. Jaimie Rogers, general manager for Granville Street's iconic Stone Temple nightclub, told the Straight that he's got the Stone T booked for the week with Halloween parties.

On Friday (October 26), Club ESL Tours will be stopping by with a club-crawl group before the real party a fundraiser hosted by a group of UBC students kicks off at 9 p.m. On Saturday, Student Tours will be coming in with a capacity crowd that will have to be moved out before the main event can start up, the Stone Temple Slice 'n' Dice party.

Rogers told the Straight that there is no question the Stone Temple brings in more money from Halloween than any other holiday of the year. Even New Year's Eve and St. Patrick's Day do not compare.

"The thing with New Year's is that I'm only getting 8 [p.m.] until 3 [a.m.], so I'm only getting a couple of hours with it," Rogers explained, "as opposed to Halloween, where I can stretch it out a little bit."

Of course, with extra crowds come increased costs, Rogers noted. Security has to be stepped up to account for concerns raised by the anonymity of costumes, and the production costs for Halloween decorations can be significant.

"It's a lot of extra work, between maintaining the décor for three nights, getting the set up, and the promotional side taken care of, but, definitely, it pays out," Rogers said. "Managers such as myself, we put in a lot of extra hours…but it's well worth it."

If you exit the Stone Temple during Halloween week to brave the chaos of the Granville strip, in every direction you look there will be a party.

The Granville Entertainment Group will be hosting three such events, with festivities scheduled to pop off at Doolin's Irish Pub, the Cellar Nightclub, and the Roxy Vancouver.

Doolin's and the Cellar will be throwing competing parties this year, with the former acting to save the world with a superhero theme, while downstairs the Cellar will attempt to conquer the planet with a hideout of supervillains. Over at the Roxy, house band Troys R Us will set the tempo for "just another reason for the girls to dress in next to nothing", according to the event's Web site.

Speaking for the Granville Entertainment Group, Lynn Santiago told the Straight that all three of the group's nightclubs have a faithful Wednesday night following but that a substantial revenue spike is expected from the hype around Halloween. For example, Santiago said, the Roxy will likely see a 75-percent increase in profits from the average Wednesday night.

"On the Granville strip, with so many different clubs and bars, it's a fun place to be," she said. "You get to kind of play a fantasy role or do something completely different, maybe out of character, and go out and have fun with everybody else who is doing the same thing."

Just across the street, the Plaza Club and Caprice Nightclub will have their own things going on. On October 31, expect one of the most elaborate decorating jobs in the city from the Plaza, while over at the Caprice, partygoers will raise the dead in celebrations on Saturday, a private UBC party on Monday, and the main event on Wednesday.

Want live music? Granville's historic Commodore Ballroom will be bringing down the haunted house with Five Alarm Funk at the October 31 Nightmare on Granville Street party.

"We spend an ungodly amount of money on décor and completely convert the ballroom," said Erik Hoffman of the Commodore's public relations. He told the Straight that Five Alarm Funk will take the stage with a full horn section and a huge band to ensure a full night of rhythm and dance.

And how will the dollars stack up for the Commodore? "With the décor and what it costs to dress up the ballroom properly, it's not the biggest night, but it is a great night," Hoffman said. "I think I would be shot dead if I didn't do it. It's worth it for sure."

And then there is Donelly Nightclubs, which runs three of Vancouver's newer entertainment hot spots. Paul Stoilen, an operating partner for the group, told the Straight that his organization also profits from Halloween.

"But our demographic is, typically, a little older," Stoilen told the Straight. "I would say we're more of a 24-to-25-plus crowd." Read between the lines: club crawls will not be stopping through.

The three Donnelly Group nightclubs in Vancouver are Bar None, the Republic, and Modern. And with three venues come three unique Halloween parties, Stoilen said.

This year the Republic will be going sci-fi with a space-age "Monster Mashups" theme. Bar None will be hosting a "wear it well Halloween social" with an emphasis on costumes and prizes, Stoilen said. "And at the Modern, it's a Sleepy Hollow theme, sort of set in old England," with a more eerie, Gastown feel to it.

Stoilen claimed that across the board, Donnelly Nightclubs can expect a revenue increase of about 40 percent for the week. For Bar None, which is normally closed on a Wednesday, there will be a 100-percent increase.

The B.C. liquor control and licensing branch will have extra inspectors out on the streets on Halloween, according to spokesperson Terry Rowsell. They will be working to ensure that clubs are checking IDs and patrons aren't sneaking liquor into clubs in their costumes. But for the most part, the obligation to comply with provincial liquor laws lies with the licensee, Rowsell told the Straight.

"The licensees are aware of the problems with people in costumes," he said, "and the liquor inspectors, generally, have talked to them about those challenges being faced." Rowsell claimed that Halloween has not really been a problem for his division, and that entertainment venues generally comply with the rules.

Kallman of BustLoose.com said that a lot of his operating budget went into ensuring that Halloween remained a safe holiday. "All of our venues are staffed with extra security, paid for by BustLoose," he noted.

This year, BustLoose.com club crawls will begin from the Royal nightclub and the Blarney Stone and a club crawl and booze cruise will set out from the Bourbon Street Pub on Cordova Street. More than a thousand people are expected to attend the two events, each paying $35 plus drinks.

"My last five Halloweens have involved running this massive operation," Kallman said. "It's a pretty stressful time for me…but I have a lot of fun doing it." He also claimed that there is nothing that lets people cut loose like wearing a mask.

In an industry where wallets are emptied as inhibitions are dropped, Halloween is Christmas for the people who make it all happen.