Halloween

I've become a bit of a Halloween scrooge through the last few years.  I really enjoyed living in Korea over two Halloweens, I didn't have to dress up, or be pressured into watching horror films late at night.  Some people go all out with their costumes planning and sewing (or ordering online) months in advance.  I am not one of those girls.  So when the head teacher at Misawa English school announced they were planning a costume party for the kids the weekend before Halloween I was not thrilled.  After some encouragement from a friend and fellow teacher at the school I made an effort (albeit a SMALL one) to procure a costume and a bit of holiday cheer. 

These are teachers at the Halloween party.  My costume consisted of a pair of bunny ears from the 100 Yen store (dollar store anyone?), some eyeliner and lipstick used in ways other than their intended purpose, and a rather fluffy cotton ball tail.

One thing I had failed to take into account during my Halloween Scroogery [Look Ma, a new word was born today!] was how much kids LOVE Halloween.  Even ones who aren't really sure what the holiday is, why the are celebrating, and why it requires dressing up.  ...Lets be honest, I don't think the Canadian/American kids are really sure why they do it either - they just know it leads to candy!

I ended up enjoying myself tremendously, simply because I got to celebrate the holiday through their eyes.  We had a pinata, cookies to decorate, and English Halloween word guessing games.

Some kids decorated their cookies to eat later....

...and some kids just ate their icing right then and there.

From now on I'm spending every Halloween with children.  I'll take them trick-or-treating, I'll hand out candy, and I'll hand them back to their parents once the sugar high starts to set in!

Hope everyone had a fun and festive Halloween!