Watson Martial Arts Halloween Party: Costumes, Community, and a Whole Lot of Laughs

Published: November 13, 2026

Training hard together is one thing. Showing up in a hot dog costume together is another.

Last month, the Watson Martial Arts family traded gis and shin guards for costumes and celebrated our annual Halloween party, and it was one of the most fun nights we’ve had all year. Members, coaches, families, and friends packed the room for a night of great costumes, great company, and the kind of laughing until your face hurts that only happens with people you genuinely like being around.

More Than a Martial Arts Gym

Here’s something we say a lot, and this night proved it again: the training is why people walk through the door at Watson Martial Arts, but the community is why they stay.

If you spend months rolling on the mats with someone in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, or trading rounds in Muay Thai, you build a relationship that’s different from a normal friendship. You’ve been uncomfortable together. You’ve helped each other get better. So when you put that same group in a room with costumes and music, it turns into something special pretty quickly.

Looking around the room, we saw brand new white belts hanging out with black belts, Muay Thai people mixed in with the BJJ crew, longtime members talking with people who joined a few months ago. Nobody was standing in their own corner. That’s the kind of team culture we’ve spent fifteen years building, and nights like this are the proof it’s working.

Costume Contest

The costume game was strong this year. We handed out awards for Most Creative, Funniest, and Scariest, and the competition was no joke. Congratulations to all of our costume contest winners, and honestly, to everyone who put in the effort. The hot dogs deserve an honorable mention.

Why This Matters for a Martial Arts Academy

A lot of people searching for a Jiu Jitsu gym in St. Louis, a Muay Thai program, or self defense classes are really looking for two things: quality instruction and a place where they feel like they belong.

We take the instruction part seriously. Our coaching staff is experienced, our curriculum is thoughtful, and our competition team has brought home multiple IBJJF titles. But we take the belonging part just as seriously, because training is a lot easier to stick with when you actually look forward to seeing the people there.

Events like our Halloween party, our anniversary celebration, our community outreach days, and our team training events exist for exactly that reason. They turn training partners into friends, and they turn a martial arts gym into a team.

Thank You for Coming Out

To everyone who showed up, dressed up, and helped make the night what it was: thank you. Our members are the best part of Watson Martial Arts, and that’s true on the mats and off them.

If you’ve been thinking about trying Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, or MMA in St. Louis, come see what this community is about. Most of our members are hobbyists, not competitors, and there’s never any pressure to be anything other than what you came here to be.