The Wet Hallowe'en

We set off in the rain towards our friend's house for Hallowe'en. The baby stayed at our house with Grandma, while the two older girls donned their Hallowe'en costumes, and eagerly got into the car. Would the rain let up, or would their trick-or-treating experience be dampened by the poor weather?

In the end, the rain did let up, and when we set out door-to-door at 18h, there was only a slight drizzle. #1 wore a costume given to her by her aunt. She was dressed as a fairy. Her younger sister wore #1's costume from last year, and was Hello Kitty. But when our oldest daughter saw her sister's hat, she too decided to wear her Hello Kitty hat, leading to a bit of confusion. A few people even mistook them for twins! The girls eagerly followed around their friend, who was dressed as a Rock Star. In fact our middle daughter refused to hold Mama and Papa's hand, preferring the company of her friend.

We lasted about an hour, when a down-pour ended our trick-or-treating. The girls were very excited about their goodies. Once we removed the peanut-containing candy bars, they dug in. #2 has since forgotten about her candy, but our oldest regularly asks to see "her Hallowe'en bag".

With their Rock Star friend 

Their Stash

Trying on her friend's pink wig

Halloween part III

Our toddler celebrated her third Halloween this week, and, thus far, her most memorable.

Getting into the spirit with a Ghost shirt (formerly her sister's)

Checking out a Hello Kitty pumpkin at the local market

Trying on her Hello Kitty outfit

The festivities begun with a party at preschool:

With her classmate

Our baby hanging out in her sister's class

Later on, we headed to the south shore of Montreal, where our toddler trick-or-treated with her six-year old friend.

With her friend (a musketeer) prior to heading out

In a winterized version of her costume

She didn't quite grasp the concept of going door-to-door, and spent much time standing at the doorstep after receiving her candy, peering into people's homes.

She was rather proud if her candy stash, and overall seemed to enjoy the experience. Just today, she asked me if she could return to her friend's house and "do Halloween" again. How to explain to a toddler with little concept of time that Halloween only comes around a once a year?

Her Halloween Stash

Eating her first treat

First Hallowe'en

Officially this would be her second Hallowe'en, but her first was uneventful. Last year, she was only eight months old, and we hadn't made any plans for the evening. Then we received an invitation to dinner, and some brief trick-or-treating with our friend's then 4-year-old daughter. We accepted the invitation, but did not purchase any costumes for the occasion. However, for the trick-or treating, I dressed the baby in her cold-weather outfit that resembled a teddy-bear. I placed her in my front-facing baby-carrier, and we ventured out in near-freezing weather. At the time, she loved the front-facing carrier, but we rarely went our after dusk. She lasted all of 5 minutes. And so ended her first Hallowe'en experience.

This year was a different story. We received a similar invitation for dinner and trick-or-treating. At 20-months-old, I did not think that she was quite ready for trick-or-treating. Alas, I think she knew something was in the air, or perhaps she fed off of our energy...but for only the second time in her life, she did not take a nap during the day. At the last minute, I decided to purchase a half-off costume at Toys-R-us that we could easily adjust and that would fit nicely over a snow suit. Almost daily, she plays with her Thomas-the-Train train set, so as soon as I saw the train costume, I decided that perhaps we could give this trick-or-treating thing a try after all. The suit in question was James the Train, no doubt one of Thomas's friends. The package read "up to 6 years of age". I assumed it would be a little on the long side, but nothing a pair of scissors couldn't rectify. Here is a photo taken at our friend's house just prior to departing for trick-or-treating:

CC as James the Train

She did surprisingly well for her first real trick-or-treating experience. She held her 5-year-old friend's hand the entire time, and actually did most of the directing, pulling her new friend here and there. Here is a photo of our daughter with her regally-dressed friend walking the streets in search of well-lit, decorated houses:

CC with her friend the Snow-Fairy

Initially she was reluctant to approach people's homes, but she very quickly got the hang of it. Although I held her pumpkin-shaped candy receptacle for the first few houses we visited, by the end, she was expertly holding it out for her prizes. She lasted almost an hour. Here is a photo of her candy stash (minus a few items that her parents ate):

CC's first Hallowe'en loot

The stash has significantly lessened since, mostly thanks to her parents. But we wouldn't be good parents if we allowed her to eat all of her candy...