Halloween Beijing style

This year we celebrated Halloween on the 27th of October here in our neighborhood in Beijing. The clubhouse had a big haunted house, lots of kids in costumes and a costume parade that we missed.



While we were waiting for the trick or treating to begin we spent some time on the playground.



Ian dressed up as a dinosaur or a dragon, as some people guessed when they spotted him tonight.


Leah was a little tinkerbell. As I was putting her down for a rest this afternoon before the partying began, she told me she thought that tinkerbell actually had no sleeves so would I please take the sleeves off her costume. I explained that I put the sleeves on her costume because of the cold weather. Then she said ok, so I guess she got it.


The color of Leah's costume was perfect for walking around the neighborhood in the dark. She was practically glowing. I picked up most of the fabric (sequins and bright green- so awful but she loved it!) on my first trip to the fabric market. It was a great day. More about that later.


I grabbed stuff for Ian's costume from around the house. An old blue blanket (that I think used to belong to MB's old roommate a long time ago), Ian's green striped t shirt that was stained and michael's old solid green t shirt that was looking pretty rough. I was happy not to spend any money. And if we ever have really cold temperatures here, I have a warm suit for Ian to hang out in. I mean it's essentially a fleece blanket with arms and legs.


The kids did ok in the candy department. Only a few people handed out American candy. Most of it was Chinese, which they don't mind. But I have less to snack on at night (because I don't like foreign candy. Give me a snickers or a twix anyday!)



Ian spent most of the night asking me to unwrap candy as we walked to the next house. He ended up pretty dirty by the end of the night from the stickiness and the dirt, I guess.


Here's the aftermath. One filthy, sticky, exhausted kid. Leah was tired too and definitely hopped up on sugar but she was clean. By the looks of them, you would've thought they spent their evenings in different places!