Half Canadian Halloween

Halloween was such an awesome day back in my hometown. We would get all dressed up in our elaborate costumes that were stretchy enough to fit our one-piece snow suit underneath and that didn't look ridiculous with winter boots on full display, get all painted in gooey make-up - that would most likely end up on every surface of the house before you even stepped a foot near the great Halloween outdoors. We would take our best empty pillow case and only dream that we (or rather the parent that was chaperoning us door-to-door) could last long enough to jam it to it's brim. We would hit every house in multiple neighbourhoods and were just as excited about a mini bag of peanuts than we were about a handful of tootsie rolls...even the pen my aunt gave us one year was heart skipping. I loved getting home at the end of an exhausting, blister forming ghoulish adventure to sort through my loot and into piles of: eat now!, eat next, eat maybe later, and I hope mom eats this (or at least takes a bite out of it and throws the rest away). Going to school the next day was so much fun, you got to trade and show off the spoils of your hard nights trudging and probably get on the teachers nerves for the lack of attention they were receiving...or maybe they wrote off November 1st and just played Simon and Garfunkel while pretending we had all disappeared. 


New Zealand seems to be catching on to the joys of Halloween more each year I reside here. I remember seeing a sign a few years ago that made me a bit sad, "Halloween is NOT a New Zealand tradition - Don't knock on my door!". Geez. But this year people seemed to go a bit buck wild and it was awesome! Maybe it was the fact that Raimi semi understands that if he knocks on a door he might get some candy or maybe it was just the thrill that dressing him up makes him even more hilarious - either way we had a bit of excitement on that evening of ghosts and goblins. 


As the world knows, we do things the inexpensive way around my house...
So, to make your small child into a half Canadian lumberjack all you will need is: One plastic axe from the $2 shop (was actually $3.50 but who's counting?), a not so hard hat from the same $2 shop (was actually .99c but again, who's counting?), one flannel shirt that will be too small for him next winter so the sleeves get the chop, one sleeveless denim jacket - more stains the better, one pair of cut off denim shorts (Canadians love denim and cutting things off - see my post on the denim tea cosy, it will help you understand), and one pair of working man's boots. Put it all on the right parts of the child's body and off you go! 


*Note: We only went to three houses and the shorts had pockets so he didn't need a bag. And plus, he's only 2 and a half! I would have ended up eating all the candy anyways!