Halloween

Yep, that's right. Halloween. Better late than never, right?

In Norway, Halloween started to infiltrate society after 2000, with more TV channels that showed American movies and TV shows, and with the push from retailers who saw a golden cash-op.

Now, in Tromsø we didn't have to do anything for Halloween, as no-one could get in our apartment building who didn't live there, and so we had no trick-or-treaters. I really have no recollection of Halloween there at all.

Here in Innvik, though, I asked our neighbor if kids usually come around, and he said oh yes! Maybe 15-20 or so usually come by. So we had two choices - turn off all the lights and pretend we weren't home, or get with the program.

We decided on the latter, of course. But only in as much as staying home and handing stuff out, not getting the girls all costumed up and hitting the streets, because (1) the kids start their touring about when we eat dinner (and after dinner is bath, and then sleep), and (2) we don't eat candy...especially not the girls.

Now, since we don't eat candy I didn't want to buy some just to give the kids that came by, so we opted for tangerines, knowing the kids would be extatic (ha!).

But I wanted to do something. Something to make up for the tangerines I guess. So I used some ideas I had seen show up on my facebook feed from some "toddler-crafts" pages I subscribe to, and set this little scene up at our front door.

There were:

coffee-filter ghosts

 

TP roll vampire bats (inspiration from here)

and then the mini-pumpkins to hand out.

The girls - especially Leona - were really excited about kids coming and ringing the door-bell. She only got to see the first three kids and then a later lone kid (accompanied by mom in the background) come by though, as for the second and fourth batch she was taking a bath and sleeping.

The kids didn't seem toooo disappointed. Only comment was from the last batch of kind of older kids (fifth graders maybe?) who came by at 9pm. As they walk away "Two apples and a tangerine. We're gonna be good and healthy after tonight."

I really would love to go all out - like set up a haunted veranda they have to maneuver through to get to the door-bell, with me sitting on the chair by the door dressed as some kind of scary something that looks fake and then when they ring the door-bell jump up towards them. Make them think twice about coming again next year :P

Ok, so sitting there for an hour or so between the batches of kids that came by wouldn't be so much fun, and the pressure to outdo myself year after year would be just way too much...and I know there's no way I'll be doing this really, but it's fun to imagine giving them a proper North American Halloween welcome.


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