Halloween in Australia

I guess some things stay the same between different countries. The other week the doorbell of our first floor apartment rang and I looked down to find a motley assortment of trick-or-treaters, some of whom had actually bothered to dress up. I’d forgotten it was Halloween. Now that I’ve not been teaching for almost a year, I’m truly out of the loop when it comes to important calendar events, kiddie wink wise.

I’m not sure I really approve of the whole going round to strangers’ houses and begging for stuff idea (or am I just turning into my mother?), but if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. However, I never give out money (in case they shout down the street to all the other mini scaries that number 10 is where the money’s at), and I never give out sweets (so that they shout down the street that it’s really not worth going to number 10, etc).

The ghouls and goblins waited patiently while I scrabbled around the apartment frantically for something to give them, rather than risk losing our rent deposit through having our windows/doors/walls egged. Not being prepared for the big grab-and-go occasion as I usually am, the only things I had more than one of to give out were..er.. kiwi fruit. Well? They ARE a bit scary looking, with their brownish green hairiness. And, as a primary teacher, I wholeheartedly approve of their vitamin content, in sort of vaguely killjoy-ish way. I duly dished them out: “What is it?” asked a pint sized skeleton. To give them their credit, the group all politely said thank you and I left them explaining to the skeleton how to eat a kiwi fruit.

Next year I will be truly amazed if we get any trick-or-treaters as we are about to move to the countryside, up an unsealed road with an acre of land around us!