Our Halloween
It’s already mid-November! I’ve been wanting to write about what we did for Halloween for the past several days, but I had no time! Is it ok if I talk about it now, after such a long time? Well, this is my blog and I decide so I say yes! Let’s revisit Halloween!
I have to say, Halloween was not a thing in Spain when I was a child. I don’t even remember if I ever attended a Halloween party. We had a similar holiday, though: Carnival! We would dress up at the beginning of February, although the costumes didn’t have to be something spooky. Anyway, Carnival or Halloween, I think it had been more than 20 years since the last time I thought about wearing a costume, and more than 10 years since I attended a Halloween party (I went to one in Beijing with my classmates when I was a student, although there were no costumes involved, only a few spiders and cobwebs painted on our faces). So last month, when I started seeing posters for Halloween children parties, I thought: “Why not? It will be Baby A.’s first Halloween!”. I even had his costume ready, as a fellow Suzhou mum had given me a caterpillar costume among other regular clothes.
Our friends were also joining the party with their two children, and we didn’t know if adults were supposed to dress up or not. But the point is wearing a costume and having fun, right? I don’t remember how, the perfect costume for my husband and I suddenly occurred to me: A pair of characters from a comic book for which we could use clothes we already had, and we would only need to buy a few accessories (I’m in a strong non-shopping mood lately). Also, my friend happens to be a make-up enthusiast so she would do our make-up and hair!
C. getting his make-up done. Please admire the crayon marks my son did on the wall behind the sofa…
The party was a lot of fun and the children had an absolute blast. There was face painting (although we as usual were late and couldn’t do that), a clown to entertain the children, prizes and a lunch buffet. Not all the adults dressed up and my friend was feeling a bit self-conscious in her Jasmine suit, but I think she looked fantastic! In the end, we even got a prize for “family costume”!
By the way, do you know who my husband and I are supposed to be? We were Dream and Death from the comic book The Sandman.
I’m Death!
Baby A. was one of the youngest children and he seemed to be a bit scared of the clown… But he didn’t move for the whole show!
I’m already thinking about what to wear for next year’s Halloween! I have already decided that the three of us will dress up of related characters!
Wow, looks like you had so much fun! I love the costumes! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Thank you! It was definitely more fun than I had expected, haha. I loved dressing up!
That looks so fun! (Says a person who hasn’t been to any kind of gathering in nine months or more.)
Jasmine looks incredible.
Baby A’s art is more colorful than Baby D’s pencil and pen sketch on our hardwood floor.
I gave up on my walls. We’ll just repaint the whole place in a couple of years :)
Love the costume choice! Halloween was pretty odd here in south-eastern Pennsylvania, USA. Usually there are tons of kids roaming the streets all evening, knocking on doors and getting candy. Instead, people went out of their way to come up with creative ways to get candy into little hands in a “socially distanced” way — my three year old granddaughter had a blast, not knowing it wasn’t “normal” to have candy pegged up on strings across front gardens or being shot down big plastic pipes on front steps. It’s so strange to see people at a normal party or group gathering; thanks to the utter lack of federal leadership, it will be months before there are any parties around here!
It’s great that people thought about creative ways to keep up the spirit, though!
The virus is absolutely out of control in America and Europe. Here, the strict measures at the beginning paid off. I should write a post about the current situation in China…
Thanks for sharing the photos. It’s fun to see how you celebrated.
That looks like lots of fun. Being around little kids makes everything happier. I don’t know The Sandman, but you both look great. Cute caterpillar costume for baby A.
When I was growing up, trick-or-treating was the big thing. I recent years, adults have started dressing up and parties have grown in popularity.
“Being around little kids makes everything happier” that is so true! I think I never stopped being a kid though, I think I enjoy watching cartoons more than my son (we watch them together).
Spain’s catching up on Halloween! When I first came here it was more Nov 1st, All Souls Day with the cake. Now my local supermarket has each year a selection of kids costumes, make up, pumpkin baskets etc. I think it’s more 25 yo and under that celebrate it as they’ve grown up with more USA culture. Well kinda celebrate it they just like to dress up!
It’s the same with Christmas. I thought the Spanish didn’t celebrate it as apart from Christmas lights only a small section of what I was used to arrived in the shops 2 weeks before. Now they start beginning of November selling sh*t! As for Black Friday the UK picked up on it about 5 years ago with Spain really picking it up last year. Already this year there are early Black Friday offers. Sephora and Douglas even had Singles Day offers this year! Not even the UK has that!
Haha! Christmas has traditionally been an indoors celebration in Spain. Cities would put a few lights on the center but that’s it. The only special Christmas products were turron, mazapan and polvorones. And the party was at each family’s home hahaha. It’s like Chinese New Year in China, there isn’t really much to see outside xD
I thought Chinese New Year was crazy as everybody goes back home to celebrate!
Christmas now is a whole other level in Spain! It’s got crazy Christmas here. Lights are already up, not on yet. My local big supermarket’s packed with toys isles and a large Christmas decoration section. The Christmas markets are starting to set up, but at a reduced size. Black Friday’s really taking off this year too. I don’t mind if I can stock up at better prices!
Everybody goes back home… and literally stay inside the home hahaha. Chinese New Year is just about eating and visiting relatives xD There used to be firecrackers but now they’re forbidden in cities…
Fantastic costumes!! And wow, Jasmine did a great job! That looks like fun — I think one perk of having kids is that holidays become a little more “fun.” Looks like the kids enjoyed themselves.
I remember Elements Fresh — ohh how nolstagic, haha!
Your costumes looked great. I have to admit that I had to google The Sandman to know what to compare. Looks like fun for all.