Halloween Downer
Man, the older my kids get the more ripped off I feel about holidays here. Yeah yeah yeah, I'm American and of course we do everything big there but just a little excitement around this country would be nice. I think many in New Zealand have the wrong idea of Halloween and what it represents. It's not a devil's day or something to do with the occult. It's fun. I grew up with it being a fun time to dress up and go and knock on people's doors for candy. We also went to costume parties or local get togethers where best costume got a treat out of each age category. We had hay rides and haunted houses too. And as I got older, it was more about the scare which was awesome. I remember one year, we went around and hit like 5 haunted houses in one night. It was the best!!! For me it's just pure fun. Nothing satanic about it.
In New Zealand (or well here where I am at) there is nothing organized about it. Kids wander the streets at different times throughout the day. No porch lights on to let trick-or-treaters know they have candy to give. Nothing big at all. This year Kamryn has been asking to go and I feel gut-wrenching horrible at the thought of her knocking on someone's door and them saying 'sorry, dear, we don't have candy', or 'sorry, dear, you don't do Halloween' or 'sorry, dear, we don't celebrate the devil but here's some literature from the Bible'. Ok, this hasn't happened to her but I know of people that have done this. So wouldn't it just be easy and save disappointment by just putting on a bloody light??? And set the time for it from 7-9PM or something??? I remember our streets being abuzz with all the excitement. Kamryn will get to witness this all next year. Lauryn may not quite want to do it at that age but I'm sure she will jump on board with Kamryn. Kamryn is going to love it!!! I know. She has been asking all day to go. All we did was go to the library for storytime but they didn't do anything special either. They got one lolly at the end! Woooooohooooo!!! Whoopty doo! Hugh is out there right now with her cause I just came home and cried. This sucks. It sooooooooo sucks! Next year she will love it so much and will want to do it when it comes around again in New Zealand and it's just not even going to compare on any kind of level. Sometimes I wish this country wasn't such a drag :(
posted by Christi @ 7:17 PM
6 Comments:
oh sweetie be very pleased u dont live here then...we dont do halloween at all!!...i can see the fun part of it but.: ) my mum lives near americans and their parents ask the street to help them out and celebrate the tradition every year...these people will even supply the lollies so their kids get the experience..; )
I hear ya Christi!!! I went out & bought 3 packs of chocolates, made up some bags of popcorn, tried to put candles in my letterbox (tea lights - but they blew out) Oh & I cut the lid if a formula tin into the shape of a scary face & put it on the letterbox but i didn't even get ONE knock at the door...meanwhile nearly all of the chocolate is gone - how did that happen????
I get on a downer about living here too (I grew up on the Gold Coast) you should hear me rant when it rains on my washing ROFL!!
Yeah I agree NZ can be boring. I know its all about keeping out kids safe but I agree with you, I don't believe its all about evil, its all in good fun these days and an opportunity for the kids to dress up one year. I didn't let my older kids go too far just down the road a few houses, but they actually came back with quite a few treats, so maybe there are still a few out there playing the game!
Thanks for your comments, girls! Hugh keeps saying it's getting better lol. But when will it be where I need it lol??? I don't want my girlies to be too old for it. We should have came to you, Kelly lol. It's nice to know that some people in NZ are on the same page as me ;)
I think Hugh is right, it IS getting bigger here. I'm sure next year will be bigger again, and you won't be here for it, so by the time you next celebrate it here it should be REALLY good lol!!
Sorry again about storytime, I really thought it would have been better than that. I feel a bit bad since I was the one who told you about it lol!
I think it's all in good fun and in no way Satanic (who the heck says that? lol). But it was never really a big thing in my life, or even in my neighbourhood as a kid. No one ever went trick or treating and we never went trick or treating ourselves. I guess it's not really an ingrained kiwi tradition like it is back in the States. Heck, I love being scared and like the idea of horror movies, haunted houses, scary stories, kids dressing up spookily.... but it's relatively new here in NZ, and as Hannah says, it's getting bigger year by year. I bought some lollies and even had about 7 or 8 kids on my doorstep decked out in costume on halloween night to give them to. I have no opinion either way, but the fact remains, I think, that it's something that hasn't always been present here, and you have to give it a chance to catch on : )
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