New to KL Stories

Halloween in the Tropics

by Alexandra Gregori

As an Australian, Halloween has never played much part in my childhood memories. I expect we dressed up as ghosts once or twice, and I do remember a house-boat holiday on the Murray River when we carved faces out of pumpkins. But heaven knows if the South Australian pumpkin season coincides with Halloween!

So Halloween with the AAM was a novel experience for me. Sadly for many ibu members, the cancelled notice in the October issue of Bonda proved deceptive. While ibu chose not to participate due to the haze, the AAM Halloween committee ( under the superb management of Jeannie Blincow), went ahead with its plans for a grand affair at the AAM in Jalan Wickham. And what an experience it was! Jeannie had returned from the States mere moments before the party, armed with every Halloween decoration known to man. And there was plenty of volunteer support to hang black drapes, pumpkins and cobwebs from the walls, fill surgical gloves with popcorn, and create a truly scary Haunted House in the playroom. At 6.30pm the ghouls and goblins began to pour through the doors, and from my position at the craft table, where the kids were to make spiders out of foam balls and pipe cleaners, I had a good view of numerous witches, fairies, skeletons, dinosaurs, punks and princesses.

You've got to hand it to the Americans. They really know how to throw a party. The Halloween theme extended to the buffet, with pumpkin cookies and cupcakes filled with jellied worms. The decorations looked fantastic. And the blood curdling screams from the Haunted House proved the success of the risen dead in the coffin, and the body on the operating table, whose open stomach was filled realistically with water balloon intestines! There was a seance room, and a hall full of party games, involving bone bags and grave stones. My two year old cheated monstrously to eat the donut-on-a-rope, but no one seemed to mind. And the magicians were a great success, despite the cynical sneer on the face of Miss Four! Donna Kam and I had worked hard on our contribution to the evening: two stylish pi?ata (you know - the papier mache shapes filled with candy that the kids bash to pieces with a baseball bat?). Jeannie had to come to the aid of the under 5s with a large pair of scissors, as the witches cat proved a little too tough for small arms to batter to the ground!

My two year olds Halloween cum Deepavali dress-up-day at nursery school the following week was decidedly less sophisticated, but nonetheless effective. The kids had a ball. I had to scrap the expensive Tigger costume, which Callum loathed, in favour of a Bam Bam/ George of the Jungle leopard skin, which was only a slight improvement in the masculinity stakes on one of Hannahs fairy costumes, but it was worth it to watch him join in this time. The selection of home-made costumes was wonderful to see: several sheets, draped and knotted into a semblance of mermaid tail and fins; a ghost made from an old hotel laundry bag with ears and cut out eyes and a tendency to walk like a robot, and a glorious selection of frightening masks.

Then on Friday, my friend in Bangsar arranged a party with Trick or Treating in each room of her apartment. Again Tigger refused to participate, but we made do with a white tulle ghost! The older children loved the treasure hunt, and proved expert at hopping for a handful of marshmallows.

So its been a busy introduction to Halloween this year. And Ive done my bit, in black maternity sack, purple wig and pointy black hat. I even failed to be recognised once or twice - at least until I stood up and revealed 38 weeks of basketball-shaped stomach! We have draped Hannahs room in Toys r Us cobwebs, and the windows display an array of ghosts and witches created at school. Callum has been whispering wide-eyed Monsters Mummy, ssshhh, around the house all week, and the dentist will have a field day when the treats finally run out! And Hannah and I have both got some great ideas for next years costumes...