Officially, the school's stance (um, the UAE's ruling) is that we DO NOT celebrate Halloween. Instead, we celebrate the changing of the season with a Fall Festival.... a time to come together as a school community to be thankful for all that we have, the year behind us, and the year ahead. Officially, there is NO Halloween themes allowed... That's that school's official stance & that is just what the Fall Festival did.
But.
The reality of the matter is that the UAE and it's local population love the holiday. It's extremely easy to find costumes, face make-up, props, and parties that will gladly allow you to let your alter ego roam free. Kids and adults can be anything from a princess (Disney or Egyptian) to a slasher dude complete with fake blood... And just so you can fully experience everything, the parties and events range over 2 weekends. That means you can easily attend 3 or more Halloween (or non-Halloween) parties...
For us, it was 3. We attended the school's Fall Festival. We hosted a costume party for Lindsey's co-workers. AND, we attended our community Halloween Party on the patch of grass overlooking the beach.
Let me cover it all in chronological order.... Go get your favorite frosty beverage; this a long one....
My kids still LOVE Halloween. So costume selection started a full month ago. They discussed the pros and cons of several ideas. They looked online... We discussed various bits and pieces of costumes that we could make or buy. THEN, the costume shops popped up in the malls and all those careful plans went out the window as each of them found something that "spoke" to them in the shop.
For Devin, let's be honest, he picks his costume by what accessories he can claim. Guns, knives, nunchucks, swords, .... you get the idea... these are the goal.
He went with one of those full body suits in black so he could be a ninja. Add a little ripped up t-shirt for the belt and headband.... poof! All he needed was weapons. By the end of October, he had amassed quite a collection, too. I think he took a different weapon prop to each of the 3 parties we attended....
The girls also look at the accessories department. Madeline wanted a wig this year (I have the sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with what they are doing in theater class...) Olivia wanted a giant mustache...
The result? Meet Jon and "his" girlfriend, Mandy. They are hysterical and spent hours before Halloween night perfecting their personas. I was in stitches long before the end of October.
Olivia learned that mustaches make you sweaty (it is still in the 90s here on a "cool" day)... and Madeline says wigs are a pain in the head as they are always slipping off.
Ahhhh.... life lessons at such an early age.
So the Fall Festival occurred 2 Thursdays before (or the weekend before) the weekend of Halloween. Each elementary grade level sets up a booth on the soccer pitch with a game (or activity) and a craft (or another activity). As the kids go from booth to booth, they play the game (or activity) and collect candy & prizes (ummmm.. not "Halloween-like" at all....). Costumes are highly encouraged, but not mandatory. No "scary" costumes are allowed, however. There is a competition for the best grade booth AND for the best costumes.
Somehow, I got volunteered (and accepted) the job of co-chairing this year's Fall Festival. It was a lot of work, but a huge success.
I loved working with all the ladies & gentlemen who were the room parents, the staff volunteers, and the members of the parent association (GAAPA). The evening went well and Olivia's grade even won the Best Booth competition.
Look at those GIANT hand-painted ears of corn!! The 5th grade spent a full month collecting large boxes so these could be constructed....
The booth was titled "The A-maze-ing 5th Grade" and included a (cardboard) corn maze & face painting.
Madeline helped out in the booth as a face painter... and Devin helped run part of the maze.
Even though about half the visitors to the booth had no idea what a corn maze is (um, you don't see many corn fields here in the UAE....), it was one of the most popular activities of the night. I was told after the event that kids would beg their parents to let them go through it 5, 6... even a dozen times!
The maze was nothing more than (a lot of) cardboard boxes zip-tied together with pictures of corn ears glued around the top edges. All the 5th graders made the corn ears (crossword puzzles, word searches, mazes, etc). Dead ends in the maze resulted in a "corny joke" such as "Why do potatoes make the best private investigators?.... Because they always have their eyes peeled!!!" I know... a total groaner.....
Well, after all that fun, I needed a day or two off, so we spent the weekend (mostly) in our PJs. But, there is no rest for the weary, and Lindsey and I still needed to "perfect" our costumes....
I wanted something easy. I needed freedom of movement & something I wouldn't suffer from heat stroke while wearing. Lindsey wanted something a bit more complicated for himself.
Enter in... Little Red, All Grown Up.... and Edgar Allan Poe, Esquire.
My costume was easy... one red cape, 2 bobby pins.
Lindsey's costume was a bit more.... difficult to acquire:
... The "jacket" is half of a Mad Hatter costume. We had to sharpie marker the bird on the pocket black.
... The face paint is part of a Dracula kit.
... The hair has a lot of styling gel, but needed some stiff hairspray (it didn't quite make the night).
... The raven was actually flown in all the way from a Wal-greens (or was it a Target?) in the States by a fellow co-worker on a trip over from DC. (Sometimes you have to out-source your costumes needs.....)
We were ready!!!
We hosted the co-worker costume party the day before Halloween and the ONLY requirement was that you had to come in costume! For those that didn't? Well, we will get to that in a moment....
I told everyone that there would be a "Pizza Bar" and drinks.... which means I called downstairs to the Italian restaurant and ordered 4 of every pizza they make plus 8 cheese-only pizzas; Lindsey made a trip to the bottle shop; I stocked up on water bottles, ice, and 2.5 L colas from the Waitrose in the next building. (Oddly, the 2 L cola is not in existence here... you have to get 2.5 L bottles. Huh!)
Those in attendance were asked to bring a side, snack, or dessert to share. We were stuffed to the ghouls in chips, cakes, pies, and candy.....
Let me say that Lindsey's co-workers do not disappoint in the costume department. We had everything from Cleopatra to a man in full gore make-up with an "unzipped" face. There were complicated costumes, clever costumes, and super-easy costumes....
Can you spot Wednesday from the Adam's Family? How about a UAE tourist complete with camera and fanny pack of souvenirs? A "cereal" killer? and the Flash?
We had real Pirates from the Caribbean ... pink pirates... rocker dudes... and even a "John 3:16" guy....
Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox made an appearance ....
Even a little monkey... & dad, Wes (which I'm still unclear about the costume... but kudos for coming as someone who got to wear the hotel's bathrobe all evening!!!)
Some time during the night, Olivia ditched the sweaty mustache for fairy wings and a dress. (I told you the kids had multiple costumes all worked out....) OH! And see Dave? with the un-zipped face!? He had an actual zipper!!! (Consequently, he won the genuine faux gold statue for "Scariest Costume"!)
Of course, we played Pictionary... it's a absolute *must* with this group.
The whole group is highly competitive and the smack-talking starts HOURs before the marker ever hits the white board. Teams are divided up (usually ending up in "the men of the office" vs "the women of the office") and it's generally a pretty evenly matched game. Since it was Halloween though, I did print off a list of themed Pictionary words. Most were easy... but that didn't stop the crazy drawings that emerged.
I've never laughed so hard... the drawings for "scary movies", "Igor", and "spells" ... oh my.
I still don't know how the team guessed "headless horseman" from the amoeba shape that was on the board.....
This is the ONLY picture I have of me during the night... surrounded by pirates, frozen margaritas, and a greek goddess... The BEST!!!
Okay... so back to those few who dared show up without a costume....
Lindsey was prepared.
IF you came without a costume, there was a penalty: We provided a pirate's eye patch and you were handed a song sheet. At the designated time in the evening (ie after a few drinks) all the "eye patch" pirates gathered together and sang a little ditty for the rest of the crowd.
It was priceless!!! And, it turns out, that the "pirates" had some very good voices. I do believe they have a future as an acapella group!
Eventually, the night wound down to an end. The women of the office won the Pictionary game, all but 4 of the pizzas were eaten, and the kids were falling asleep standing up (some of the adults were too!) We sent everyone safely home and crawled into bed ourselves... for the next day would be HALLOWEEN!!!!
Ug.
By this point, I was already pretty "partied out".... but the kids were still ready for more. So, more it was...
For weeks, I've been helping a group of ladies in our apartment complex plan a Community Halloween Party. Many a night was spent organizing over a bottle (or 5) of wine. We managed to get approval for a big bash on the A Block "lawn" under the date trees facing the water. Last year's festivities were much the same & we took the lessons from our experiences then into account this year.
We secured prizes for a costume contest, up to and including 8 (yes, EIGHT) tickets to Ferrari World and Yas WaterWorld. (Thank you Jesse & Denay!!) We even had backpacks, gift vouchers, coloring books, & toys donated. In total, we had over 24 prize bags to award....
The local management company agreed to supply us with tables and rubbish bins... plus the workers to move said items into place.
The ladies and I divided up the activities and planned 6 carnival-like games. We had "Ghost Bowling" (toilet paper rolls stacked like tin-cans & knocked down with tennis balls), Pin-the-Eyes-On-the-Ghost, Monster Sack Races, Witch's Hat Ring Toss, and Cardboard Jack-o-Lantern Bean Bag Toss. The idea was that the kids would play each game, get a stamp in a "passport" (a kind of record book to keep up with what games they had played), and then come back to the Prize Table for a surprise (small Halloween themed party-favor type trinkets).
Last year we had about 250 kids attend ... we expected about the same kind of turn out.. maybe a little better.
The week before the event, we were given the "okay" to put our fliers up in the lobby areas (and elevators) of all the buildings. I think we put up about 50 fliers throughout the entire community.
YIKES!!! The turnout was better than anticipated.
We had set up 5 tables to hold the food (everyone was encouraged to bring a finger food to share) and they were all overflowing. People were literally stacking containers on top of each other just to fit the snacks on the table.
The kids LOVED it. I was so busy during the night that I never took any photos.
Everything I have here are photos I've pirated off the other ladies from that night. I'm just guessing, but I'm pretty sure we had over 400 kids! I worked the passport and prize table and I ran out of passports about an hour into the evening. It was wonderful to see so many of our Al Zeina neighbors out visiting with each other and enjoying the community.
The event ran from 5-7 PM and by 6:30 (the costume contest time), it was full on dark. The costume judges had a hard time deciding with so many good costumes, but all the prizes were awarded. Olivia and Madeline both won a small prize. They were ecstatic!
After a quick cleanup, it was time to go trick-or-treating. One of Lindsey's co-workers had come to the Community Party with his family and we invited them to go Trick-or-Treating with us. Devin & Madeline chose to stay home and pass out candy. They were completely pooped after our other activities... Plus, I had a whole bowl of candy at home they could "sample" while waiting....
Trick-or-treating has always been exhausting to me, but it is especially so in an apartment complex. The rule was that you only knocked on the doors that were decorated for Halloween (as not everyone who lives here celebrates this holiday). Our building alone has 11 floors. Olivia & Trinity insisted on hitting each one... But, on any given floor, there may only be 2 or 3 doors that are participating. Ug.
Olivia was smart. Before we left our flat, she put her roller skates on. Genius!!! Trinity grabbed one of our scooters... It got to the point where us adults would wait by the elevators while the girls zipped along on the roller skates & scooters.
In the end, we only visited our building block, a few of the villas, and one of the restaurants downstairs. We ended the evening with a nice walk/stroll by the beach. We decided to call it a night.
The girls each had a small basket of candy and it was only 8 PM.... but on a school night.
All in all, another great holiday in the UAE. Not exactly "traditional", but fun nonetheless.
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