Halloween experiment in Provence. Or how to entertain sixteen kids on a rainy day.

Well, we survived our first provencal Halloween party this weekend, or as the locals call it, "allahwin".  The weather was rotten, so we ended up having to entertain 16 kids inside for the whole afternoon.  Luckily, the house's open floor plan lends itself to large crowds, even the "high on sugar/climbing walls" kind of crowd, but by the end of the party the furniture was sticky and there was food everywhere. One little girl evidently didn't like my otherwise delicious vegan death-by-chocolate cupcakes, because Noah saw her spit our a huge mouthful in a corner of the hallway!

Cranky leeks 

Inspite the hard work and intense post-party cleanup, I'm happy we had the party.  We'd discreetly skipped Halloween altogether last year because we were new(er) to the area and knew that France doesn't really celebrate Halloween.  Trick or treating doesn't exist around here (not sure about bigger French cities), so there didn't seem much point in trying to start a trend.  What I hadn't figured on is that the kids really missed dressing up for Halloween (and weren't shy about voicing their discontent all through the year).  Nina in particular is a self-proclaimed candy junkie as well as dress-up enthusiast, and I was sad to think that she wouldn't have an outlet for her two passions just because we left the U.S.

The party was in part an experiment to see whether rural French parents could be talked into dressing up their kids for a holiday that is only vaguely known about.  The invitations had been handed out to eighteen of Noah and Nina's schoolmates a couple of weeks ago ...  Against the odds, most of the kids showed up, and the costumes were awesome!  You americans out there will be amused to learn that one of the misconceptions that French people have about Halloween is they are convinced that only certain types of costumes are appropriate.  They are: vampire, ghost, skeleton, Dracula, witch, and zombie.  I had to explain to moms on two separate occasions that in the U.S. kids wear whatever costume they like for Halloween, including Disney characters and non-scary outfits, but I could tell the moms just wouldn't believe me. 

By the time D-day arrived, the house was ready.  It was so much fun decorating a house that's as old as ours ... it's so easy to "spookify"!

                   

Froont door - complete with witch - "la sorciere"

    

    

           

We put this spider right above Noah's homework desk. Just the excuse he needed to skip doing his homework.  What were we thinking?



Our dining room, all dressed up for the occasion

My favorite part of the party was watching the kids scare each other (and themselves!) in the dark hallway. The hallway has a drammatic stone wall and a conveniently blood red wall.  We'd hung a ghost with a flashing strobe light behind it at the far end of the hallway.

The infamous "Hallway Ghost"

The kids would all huddle under the ghost with the hallway light turned off, and as soon as one of them would scream, they'd all get freaked out and run back to the living room.  They played this game throughout the party, and never got tired of it.  It was hilarious to watch!

At snack time, I tried to talk the kids into sampling one of my Werewolf Toes (chocolate cookie dough with almond "nails"), but there were no takers!

Werewolf Toes

A few of them did try my Floating Hands Punch, which consisted of a strawberry juice punch and ice "hands".  We made the hands by filling some surgical gloves with water and freezing them.  We then threw the "hands" - gloves and all - into the punch bowl so they floated in it.  Looked so gross I forgot to take a picture of it  

Yes, it was as messy as it looks... but all for a good cause.

Anyway, I can probably talk myself into having the party again next year.  And hopefully the weather will cooperate, since we didn't get to play the "ride a broom while holding a tangerine under your chin" game with the eighteen brooms I'd bought!