People don’t really celebrate Halloween Down Under. Ok, some do. It’s definitely gaining popularity, but I’ve never once had any little zombies or fairies or the like come knocking on my door wanting a trick or a treat. I will, however, be dressing Hannah up in her adorable little fairy outfit for the day. I am American after all. Plus I bought some candy corn from USA foods, along with 150 dum dum lollipops, so I’m all prepared.
But, I did grow up in the U.S. and I used to trick or treat every single year. So here is a guest post by my Mom, for a little insight on me as a little tyke on Halloween.
Sheri Goes Trick-or-Treating
Yeah, that's me all right, and that readers, is the inside of a mobile home.
A long time ago in a country far away from where she lives now, Sheri went trick-or-treating for the first time. We didn’t have a lot of money when the kids were small, so they never had store bought costumes. Where money lacks, creativity reigns. She was about 2 then, so one of her dad’s t-shirts pretty much covered her from neck to toe. Add some brown material, felt feet, and a white t-shirt transformed into a pretty good hedge hog suit.
Her brother, Chris was always quite creative making his own costumes. He dressed up as things most other kids never would have considered. A bag of groceries, a TV set, and a museum all made appearances as his costumes over the years. When he got older he made the simplest costume ever, a hooded sweatshirt, and some sunglasses – instant unibomber.
Sheri had some flashes of creativity of her own, though not in the same way as Chris. Her and cousin Jennifer dressed up together as things like an enormous pair of underwear (complete with stains) or a giant pair of pants (with one girl in each leg.)
We lived out in the country, too far to walk from house to house. Sure we could have gone into town like most people and walked through the neighborhoods there, but I didn’t want my kids getting their candy from random unknown strangers. So we set out in the car and drove to the houses of people we knew in our area.
Many of them did not expect trick-or-treaters, especially that first year. So they scrounged through their cupboards. We may not have made it to as many houses as the people walking through town, but in addition to the usual fun-sized candy (and what is so fun about a half bite sized candy bar anyway?) they got full sized candy bars, hostess pies, pudding cups and that sort of thing.
In between houses, at least one kid had to sit in the back seat of the car, unseen in the dark by mom, who had to pay attention to the road. Sheri’s first year trick-or-treating, she sat in the back. After making the rounds of all the people nearby that we knew we came home. Chris got out of the car with a bag full of candy. Sheri got out of the car with a bag of wrappers and a stomach ache. Turned out she ate each thing she got between houses or on the way home.
Sadly she watched Chris eating candy for the next week or two while she had none. She learned her lesson though, and never ate it all at once again.
Don’t forget to vote once per day to keep me a the top. THANKS!!!!!
Mommy Adventures 