In the olden days (i.e. before Izzy), the night in question would arrive, and I could oft be heard saying: "turn off the lights and hide, I don't want the little buggers coming round here begging."
Then, whilst I was cowering in abject darkness, one horde of kids after another would shout through the letterbox, 'you miserable bitch!', sometimes pushing through a dollop of dog shit to emphasise their general dissatisfaction.
That was London, where the kids were hardcore, and where it was also generally accepted that midget zombies could be shooed away with a cricket bat if necessary. Not that I did of course. I don't play cricket.
Fast-forward to Halloween 2012 and we encounter a different state of affairs. Instead of London, I now live in genteel Oxfordshire, where the kids are more likely to be found discussing the perfect roux. And instead of me being 'bah humbug' about Halloween, there was seven year old Izzy to please. It's a different gravy. I had to raise my bar.
So, to celebrate the occasion, I invited two of Izzy's best mates (May and Chip - short for Chipmunk) around for a mini-Halloween bash (no flies on me, although you can see where they've been). I thought I had excelled myself in the preparation department after purchasing a giant 'ham and pineapple' pizza, and some chocolate mousses in readiness.
But apparently (according to Izzy), we also needed a pumpkin, fake cobwebs, giant spiders and a whole load of other guff that I hadn't bought. That's probably why one of my nicknames is, 'hostess-with-the leastess'. Crikey, I only have a kitchen because it came with the house.
My only redeeming feature was that I had been sent a whole load of Halloween freebies by Asda (Izzy chose her own outfit from the selection), so at least Izzy had a costume to go trick-or-treating in, and some costume make-up.
And because I am like Mother Theresa, except that I would have a facelift if I became that wrinkly, I have got some photographs for you ................
Pic.No.1 Izzy's friend, May, arrived first and they immediately changed into their Halloween costumes. May was a witch and Izzy was a corpse bride (yeh, I don't know what that is either)
Pic.No.2 Man alive. Now for the challenging bit. I had to do the scary make-up ....... and I'm the least creative person on the planet. I was a bit worried that the look was a bit too 'giant panda', but they seemed to love it
Pic.No.3 Chip (left) turned up in time for dinner, and the Three Muskehounds were complete. I burned the pizza a bit, but the tubs of chocolate mousse turned out ok
Pic.No.4 When Chip's mum, Denise (who is dead creative), dropped off Chip, she also gave us a pumpkin ..... how cool is that!
Pic.No.5 Not only that, but she dropped off some Halloween spider biscuits that she and Chip had made that day ....... May contributed the bat to the photo (left hand side)
Pic.No.6 The Muskehounds ready to go trick or treating ......
Pic.No.7 They were a bit hesitant with their first trick-or-treat
Pic.No.8 But the hesitancy lasted for about 30 seconds, and then I couldn't keep up with their exuberance. We must have visited about 40 houses .........
Pic.No.9 Flippin' hek! There is a giant orb / space ship in the sky ..... actually, joking aside .... what is that?
Pic.No.10 This was the girls' favourite trick or treat house. The guy had dressed as a monk and there were loads of spooky skeletons hanging down
One thing that these pictures don't show, is exactly how busy the village was with trick-or-treaters. There were huge amounts of kids all dressed up and enjoying Halloween. And the whole village was buzzing. It was bloody brilliant fun.........
There was also another amazing thing - the weather. There had been torrential rain all day, but it stopped at exactly 6pm (when we left the house) and resumed again at exactly 8pm (the time we went to the pub). It was like divine intervention or something.
Pic.No.11 Finally, after an hour and a half of trick-or-treating, I asked the girls; "Anyone fancy a quick pint in the pub?" They all yelled a big affirmative. That's my girls
Pic.No.12 And the girl's fathers weren't far behind, once the pub was mentioned. On the left we have May's dad, DJ Hyper (also a founder member of the band Bright Bright Machines). And on the right, we have Tim, the founder of Alberon (a large web development company). I hope I get paid for that .........
But finally, it appears as though I have a potential rival blogger ...... Izzy. To celebrate Halloween, she decided to write a spooky story.
Pic.No. 13 Izzy's Halloween Story
And here is the story in type: "Once there was a girl called Scarlett. One day she was getting married to a boy called Tom. She looked so pretty in her beautiful wedding dress. She went looking for a rose at a brickwall castle.
She was near the woods when she saw a man on a horse. It was black and huge and the man had no head. He was the headless horseman. Scarlett was scared, she screamed and ran away. The headless horseman chopped off her head with his huge axe and she was dead.
She arose from the dead and she had long fangs. Her dress was disgusting! There was cobwebs on it and black roses.
Then she found him and she bit him on the neck. Then Tom turned into a vampire and spent the rest of his life scaring people to DEATH!"
The End."
I might have to give her a guest slot on me blog!
So dahlink, on a different note, how did your Halloween night go?
WOW! Hallowe'en looks like a blast at your home. The costumes were fantastic. I am sure the sugar high is still hitting your home. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteBrahm was in Vancouver, so Alfred and I handed out chocolate bars to the monsters trolling our street. Then I packed Alfred up and took him to grandma and grandpa's home as I was taking an early flight to Grande Prairie (where I am right now) the next morning.
I hope everyone is great at your place.
Hugs.
Very fun... looks like a great Halloween! Kevin handed out candy (as per his comment), I am travelling this week so off the hook.
ReplyDeleteLast year I turned off the lights and hid. The only doorbell action was a couple of friends, who I blindly ignored and they stole our pumpkin!
Bah HUMBBUG! Not for us, the kids outgrew it before it really got hold of them. We do have Treaters here in Spalding, mostly tiny ewoks. They will only visit houses that display the necessary garlands outside. My old kiddies still insist I buy treats "just in case" though? We do have the Pumpkin Parade at the beginning of October, it's so spesh it was on The One Show! Saw a trailer full of pumpkins splattered all over the bypass a few weeks ago too! My fave treat moment this year.... the teenage skeleton treaters having a crafty fag between houses!
ReplyDeleteIt was pissing down in the shire so thankfully it was a non event. Can't stand it. Even the hooligans can't be arsed these days. We only have people who want to be rock stars in the village, not actual real ones!
ReplyDeleteOHHHH...How cute the three Musketeers looked. I always escape our house and go over to my daughter's house. I hand out candy for her while the rest of our little family go trick or treating. Our grandsons are quite good at begging for sugary treats.
ReplyDeleteEvery year here there seems to be less and less trick or treaters as a lot of parents now take their kids to private parties or events.
Trick or treating hasn't made it this far into the sticks. I don't even need to hide. Phew.
ReplyDeleteIzzy looks like she had a wonderful time, and very good move re the pub.
I am totally anti Haloween, in my mind for one night begging becomes acceptable in the eyes of many.
ReplyDeleteThankfully most Police forces do a poster you can download saying no trick or treat, and woe betide any group ignoring it.
In this neck of the woods the gods looked down with a smile and it rained all night, so just a few about though as every year I do ask myself why some parents of pre-teens let them go round in twos without a parent.
Yep , they were bouncing off the walls after all that sugar and E numbers. It was so bad I had to take em to an indoor play centre. They are destroying that instead!
ReplyDeletePS you two don't half get about a bit! Enjoy your trip matey ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat is well funny that they nicked your pumpkin! Retribution because you didn't answer the door?! Where in the world are you now, you jetset ;-)
ReplyDeleteSame here actually, we only trick or treat the houses with pumpkins and shit outside. I had to laugh at the teenagers having a crafty fag between houses - kind of spoils the image. Also, please tell me you got Pics of the pumpkin lorry? That is well amusing!
ReplyDeleteYou miserable bleeder! So you are a definite 'hide behind the sofa' type then?! We don't only have a rock star but also a ex Top Gear presenter too. Forest Hill rocks!
ReplyDeleteReally kids are trick or treating less? I am surprised they can resist the allure of all that candy! Or maybe it's the parents not having to worry about what to do with a mountain of unhealthy stuff! That's cool that you get involved at your daughter's house, but pray do tell, do you dress up?!
ReplyDeleteFlipping hek, each comment you make, the more remote your house sounds! You are truly in the sticks if Kids are tempted by the allure of sweets!
ReplyDeleteBah humbug! Actually, having experienced trick or treating with Izzy this year, I have to say that is glaringly obvious which houses want to participate, and which don't. I would never let them knock at a door where the lights are out. Totally with you about unsupervised pre-teens. Total madness!
ReplyDeleteThat's well funny about the police posters, I've never heard of that before.
Looks like you all had fun. The only thing that happened here was two adults that I had never seen in this area before (everyone knows everyone) wheeling a pushchair with lights on and dragging a couple of toddlers around. Must have been eastern European...
ReplyDeletein rainy Vancouver, and yes they held the pumpkin for ransom...!
ReplyDeleteYou guys had a blast,eh?! Loved Izzy's story too...very creative!
ReplyDeleteWe turned off all the lights and hid in the living room!!! lol
I did absolutely nada. It sucked the big wahoo. I'm hoping for better next year.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with Halloween.
ReplyDeleteTrick or Treat, however, is one of the worst U.S. imports to make it's way across the water. IMHO
Like you, I used to just turn the lights off and sit in the back room watching telly, but nowadays, with two kids of my own, I get dragged into it. And I hate it.
This year though, the kids missed out on it all as it was half-term and they had come down to stay with me for a couple of days.
It wasn't really feasible to dress them up and then let them go knocking on hotel bedroom doors for sweets.
I, so, burst out laughing(as usual) with the pre-amble...dollop of dog shit....Izzy and entourage looked so cool walking up to the first door.....what a grand time they had.I feel kind of sad now...we haven't had a visitor for 15 years...hey maybe it's our breath! Never know!
ReplyDeleteIt was cool! I enjoyed it just as much as they did. Awww, why don't you get visitors? Are you off the beaten track or something?
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Bah humbug! How are you managing with your kids in a hotel room?
ReplyDeleteI used to hate trick or treating when I lived in London. Partly because hooligans would partake, and if they didn't get the treat they wanted, they would be quite aggressive with their revenge.
It's a much more genteel affair here, with the whole village getting really into it.
Apparently the police supply posters than you can put in your window to deter the little bastards.
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Awww, that's a shame. I kinda imagined you would be really into it!!
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That's well funny about the Eastern Europeans with the light up buggy! Were they asking for cash, or content with sweets?
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