Halloween

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Many years ago, my Father was transferred to California for work. He took with him his wife and three daughters who were 6, 3 & 1. We moved from our home in the Home Counties of England to just south-east of San Francisco. There were many cultural differences between the USA and the UK, not least the celebration of Halloween.

To go to school in one’s Halloween costume was not something that I had ever encountered in England. In fact, costumes were more for school discos or parties rather than school events. I had not even *heard* of trick or treating, let alone experienced it. And as for school Principals who dressed up as Big Bird and then led a school costume parade around the football field, well, let’s just say I was a little surprised.

Fast forward over 20 years, for it is, I realised 21 years since we moved to California {and 20 since the earthquake I was able to write about first hand in a school Geography lesson a decade later back in England} and Halloween is far more widely celebrated in England than ever before. Traditionally, UK autumnal celebrations centre around Bonfire Night/5th November/Guy Fawkes night {which I will tell you all about next week} but in recent years we have celebrated Halloween ourselves as well.

So, on Saturday afternoon I carved our pumpkin (turning the fleshy part into puree which I froze to use as part of the food for our bonfire night party) and hung the decorations I made last year up with some fairy lights in our kitchen window. Turns out paper pumpkins, witches hats and bats illuminated in the window at about 6.30pm declares that you “are open” for trick or treaters. Who knew?!

We live in a rather nice area of North London which is populated in the main by families who own the whole of their Victorian house. We live in a converted house which is becoming a rariety as families buy up all the houses surrounding us. We were visited by plenty of trick or treaters, some tiny, some a little bigger. My favourite was a teeny tiny rotund grey furry spider with lots of little black legs. She accepted a small chocolate bar from me and stared at me for ages, eyes wide. My least favourite was a larger boy in a bin liner cape who on being told that there was no more chocolate left shouted “We have come all this way. You had better give us something” in a very menacing manner, much to the horror of the parent who was accompanying them (he explained to me the child was a friend of his son’s). As he walked back through our front garden he shouted to Husband, visible through the kitchen window, that he “would remember our house & return to mess it up”. He couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8.

My last 2 pieces of chocolate were reserved for my neighbour’s children, for whom I occasionally babysit. They arrived back from their trick or treating expedition and I gave them their chocolate. The eldest was dressed as a mummy with loo roll and masking tape covering him from head to foot. His younger sister only had a white face and looked a bit teary. “She was a ghost” her Mum explained, “but she lost the will to be spooky half way round”.

Trick or treating over, it was time to get ourselves ready for the Halloween party we had been invited to: Count Dracula & His Bride-t0-Be celebrating their engagement. Costumes were mandatory. Now, it is my belief (and memory from our time in the US) that in the US Halloween costumes are simply costumes. Anything goes. In the UK, Halloween costumes seem to be more scary or gruesome. Sadly, I don’t ‘do’ scary or gruesome. I don’t like false blood or horror films, so my options are always limited. Last year, I dressed up as the Corpse Bride. This year, anything bridal was clearly off limits, so I decided to take my inspiration from Heathers. It’s not scary or gruesome, but there are murders.

Husband on the other hand decided to go as Johnny Depp from Sweeney Todd. I spent several hours creating him a cut throat razor out of a wine box, some silver foil and some glue and managed to even make it a case so it could be folded away as it was also hinged. I did his hair and make-up and we found him a suitable outfit including his wedding waistcoat.

Sadly in this photo his face looks more like a vampire from Buffy but it’s the only one we took, so it will have to do.

The party was a great success even if it was hard to tell whether or not we knew anyone. Such was the amount of fake blood swilling round the party someone really could have bled to death without anyone realising. Witches, vampires, pirates, cats, masked men, a pair of bacon & eggs and ‘Derren Brown’ all vied for space in a spider filled back garden & the devil and a dictator were found talking and smoking outside the front door -with the party was still in full swing - when Husband walked me home at 2.30am.

Hope that everyone had a great Halloween weekend.

{all images by me. again, usual apologies for the quality of my BB snaps}