Halloween fun

Today was Halloween, and this year instead of trying to avoid it and whining about the commercialisation and having the 'what's the point' debates - we embraced it!

A conversation with a friend recently changed my view, and then participating in our community tonight cemented it for me.
A friend pointed out to me that the reason why he didn't mind Halloween and thought it was embraced so enthusiastically (particularly here in Dubai) was because it is one of the few celebrations that is not directly connected to one religion or race. It is fun the whole community can participate in no matter who you are or what your background.

This struck a chord with us - especially living here where everything from your salary to your ability to purchase alcohol (including how much per month) is determined by your religion and race.

So today Piper dressed up and went to school and enjoyed Halloween activities all day, then we all attended the school annual Halloween fair in the afternoon. Although she was already exhausted and sugar loaded we then had friends over and went trick or treating in the streets of our community.
It was so much fun - the kids had an absolute ball, we ran into familiar faces, met new neighbours and laughed with complete strangers.

Who knows next year we may even go so far as to carve our own jack-o-lantern!

Piper and her best friend ready for trick or treating

Some of our neighbours went to an amazing effort to decorate their homes

Halloween - Piper Monster

I promised myself I would never get sucked into all this halloween stuff.... then Naz called me at work on Monday afternoon to tell me Piper had been invited trick or treating in our building with her new friends.
So on my way home from work I detoured via the mall and am so glad we joined in. Piper loved it! The kids all had amazing costumes and some parents in our building organised 4 apartments for the kids to visit and collect their 'treats'. We had a few tears early on.... the skeleton boy was a little too scary for Piper.