As Halloween approached, I got a little nervous. I didn’t have costumes for the kids, and the store here that seemed the most likely candidate at which to find them something turned out not to be great- $50 for really cheap-looking costumes that nobody liked. Additionally, I did not bring any of our fall decorations, which the kids missed. Plus, there was the issue of carving pumpkins. Finally, my 3 love trick-or-treating, and we didn’t know what we were going to do about that. For comparison’s sake, this is what our October looked like last year, taken from my calendar:
Baby Superman is my nephew, Chase, and the furry guy is the kids’ doggy cousin, Apollo, who got to go to the pumpkin patch with us.
Brad ended up having to go back to Chicago at the beginning of October, which was a trip we weren’t anticipating and didn’t have much notice prior to. I quickly pulled up Target’s website (and incidentally, I should have included Target on my list of things I currently miss- it was so frequently a one-stop solution to all the random items I needed; I don’t have that here) and found costumes for Kylie & Logan. Jenna wanted to be Elsa, like every other little girl in her demographic. My mother-in-law spearheaded the costume-purchasing (thanks, Grandma Sandy!) and was able to get Jen & Lo’s costumes in time for Brad to bring back with him. His cousin Kathy came to visit us the following week, and Ky’s costume arrived in time to for Kath to bring it along. It was so strange trying to find costumes that would be cool enough for the kids to wear; at home, we have the opposite problem, trying to figure out how to bundle up while still showing them off.
Nobody else had a Twister costume!
Elsa was not unique, but she was pretty; she also left a trail of glitter in her wake
Our Star-Wars-obsessed Jedi knight; his lightsaber had to stay home from school
As for decorations, we definitely went simple on those. The kids spent hours making their own, and then they proudly hung them on their bedroom doors and collaborated on my bedroom door. My mom put together a package of Halloween cards for the kids from my side of the family, and those arrived in time to display in our living room. The kids were tickled to receive cards from their grandparents, great-grandmas, and uncles/aunt/cousin. This drove the point home for me that sometimes I put too much pressure on myself at home; these easy decorations were just as exciting for the kids as our big bin of fall decos at home, and they were so proud to have made a bunch of them. I checked that concern off my list and moved on.
Sadly, we did not get to carve pumpkins this year, which I know Brad was all torn up about. Typically, each child picks out a big pumpkin when we go to the pumpkin patch, and then they each design a face for that pumpkin. I assist them in scooping the goop (Brad’s nightmare), and Brad does the carving. I toast the pumpkin seeds, Brad gets the jack-o’-lanterns lit up, and we all admire our creations while sitting in our dark great room. It turned out that a small pumpkin here was going to run us $30, and we would have needed 3, so we nixed that idea. We have plenty of pumpkin-carving years awaiting us when we move back home. The beautiful thing about moving across the world is that you get to make new rules and set new expectations; after being briefly disappointed, the kids accepted this change and quickly moved on.
Ky, J.R., & Chloe before school
Lo, Jen, & Dru before school
Most of the gang at the bus stop
I knew that the kids would be celebrating Halloween at school. It seemed like it was going to be a huge deal, and having been on campus the week of Halloween, I was really impressed with all the decorating that had been done there. However, I was concerned about after school because it’s not Halloween to the typical American child unless trick-or-treating occurs. We always go with our friends the Dulaks (and until they moved a few years ago, the Williams family as well); we were sure to miss those guys a ton. This is our little group on Halloween several years ago:
Logan, Nora, Jenna, Kylie, Avery, Sydney, & Lindsey
So, I started mentioning the possibility of trick-or-treating here to people early in October, trying to gauge their interest. My friend Molly & I decided to try to organize it at the condo. We learned that it’s biggest in the U.S., that it’s not as consistently popular in Australia and England, and that it’s really not an Asian thing at all. When I started asking around, it seemed that almost all of the kids that live in our condo and go to my kids’ school were interested, and most of our expat friends that live here wanted to do it as well. We could have gone out to the Woodlands area, which is predominantly American, because they have what sounds like over-the-top trick-or-treating in that community. However, it would take us an hour by train, and after a long day at school for the kids, in addition to the fact that Brad was out of town, that just didn’t appeal to me. So, Molly & I ended up with 19 families who were interested in participating; because we asked everyone to spread the word, we even met some families we hadn’t yet encountered. It was so fun because for a number of the kids, it was their first time trick-or-treating ever. Kylie’s good friend Chloe, who is from Korea, had dressed up in the past for a party at her school back home, but this was the first time that she and her brother had gone trick-or-treating. One of the British moms explained to me that trick-or-treating tends to be heavy on the tricks in England (things like fire crackers in mailboxes- yikes!), so it’s not as well-received there; for her daughter, this was also a first.
Logan, Eliza, Kylie, Riya, Jenna, Somya, Aiden, & Chloe- ready to trick-or-treat!
All the families who were participating put a jack-o-lantern sign on their doors, and we provided a list of their condo numbers, so that the kids would know where to go. It’s rainy season here, and sure enough, it was rainy on and off while we trick-or-treated, but that hardly mattered within the confines of the 3 buildings that comprise our condo development. It was hot, particularly as the big group of us that went right after school crammed ourselves into the elevator, but it was a big success.
First time we’ve required an elevator to trick-or-treat!
This is what it looked like inside the elevator- just a bit cramped!
Next year, I’ll focus more on my door decorations; this was very nice, Renee!
Charlotte from Norway really outdid herself; I made the kids stop for a photo op by some of her decos.
Happy kids!
Kylie, Jenna, and Logan were very happy with how the whole thing turned out, and I was relieved that we maintained one of their favorite traditions from home. (This was particularly good because they were disappointed by the school celebration. At home, there’s a big parade at school after lunch, and all of the parents can come see all of the kids in their costumes. That’s followed by a fun assembly and a party in each of the classrooms. Here, while the decorating at school was really awesome, and it was very nice of a group of moms to perform in a “Thriller” flash mob, there was no party, and the kids were left feeling confused by the lack of an actual celebration. And no, I was absolutely not one of those dancing moms, to the surprise of no one.) After trick-or-treating, as always, we ended up with all 3 kids seated at the dining room table, sorting through their candy and enjoying some treats before dinner. They took turns answering the door to hand out candy, and all seemed pretty normal.
Lots of treats
You don’t see these at home: green tea KitKats
We were even able to end the evening in a traditional Halloween way: the kids put on their PJs and settled in to watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (thank you, Hulu). We’re calling our first Halloween in Singapore a success!
Unwinding with Charlie Brown
HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2014!
Simpler in Singapore? 