Halloween in China

I was so relieved to find that, while Halloween is not celebrated by the Chinese, several of the foreign complexes have trick or treating every year. Our neighborhood really embraces Halloween, and I think the Chinese kids that live in our neighborhood are especially happy to have expats around to start a new tradition. We took out our Halloween decorations at the first of October. The kids were really excited and I was thankful that I packed them because it helped us all feel more at home in our new house and this strange country. The kids have been ramping up for a month now for Halloween. The school did not disappoint and did a great job of decorating and putting on class parties, which was also a comfort. We all got dressed up and were out trick or treating by 6:00 PM. It was totally dark by that point. We dragged our housekeeper along with us for her first trip trick or treating. I think she had fun watching everyone run around crazy. The management sent out sign up sheets earlier in the month for those who wanted to participate. When you signed up, they gave you a paper pumpkin to put on your door so all the children would know which doors to knock. Of course, the kids didn't really get a ton of candy, and it wasn't the GOOD stuff, just a little American candy, but they had a blast. We also had a ward Halloween party the day after which was tons of fun. One ward member brought over his cotton candy machine, which was really cool. We played games, ate too much junk food and then got rained on at the end. It was like we hadn't even left the states at that point.... seems like rain has a way of ending parties! Anyway, it was pretty fun all around.