Halloween in PG

     Well we've officially survived our first US holiday in PG--Halloween. Granted, it's not Christmas or Thanksgiving as far as holidays go but we've always celebrated it pretty big at home in the States. Knowing that Halloween is not nearly so widely popular in the rest of the world, we had few expectations for the day. Still, we'd decided that we would celebrate it as best as we could regardless of where we live. Much to our surprise, we learned that Belize actually does celebrate Halloween, all be it somewhat new to them. I would speculate that with so many Belizeans having family or friends relocated in the US, and with such a strong influence from up north, the holiday inevitably has made it's way down here.

The first step was figuring out costumes. We have the advantage of having warm weather and not being so limited in clothing (i.e. long sleeves, pants). However, we are very limited on resources here. There are a few costumes available (think maybe 10 or so total available for sale) and a few masks as well but that's pretty much it in the way of store bought costumes. For one son, we put together a robot costume from items available here and our 10 year old wore a "Wonder Woman" type costume that I roughly cut and hand stitched together. And for our youngest daughter, we scoured the internet until we found an idea that she liked--Cleopatra. I printed out a couple of pictures from online, purchased some fabric and ribbon, and took my idea to a seamstress in town. The best part is that for just $7.50 US she was able to sew an entire costume, with no pattern from just a few basic measurements and a picture. I don't believe any seamstress in town has ever worked from a pattern, yet for a few dollars, they can put together some amazing pieces of clothing. It just goes to show you how resourceful they can be.

Halloween is celebrated here but as mentioned before, because it is so new, it isn't to the extent or quite in the same manner as it is celebrated in the U.S. The night before, they handed out bags of candy to children in Central Park--most of the candy here consists of lollipops and other hard candy, almost no chocolate :-(. Halloween day proved to be very fun for our kids in school. Our son's preschool class all came dressed up--those that did not have a costume were able to rent one from the teacher for a small fee. Then they, nearly 40 kids, all loaded up into the back of a trailer that was decorated like a float for Halloween. Parents, myself included, loaded up into the back of the truck pulling the trailer, and we proceeded to drive around town, honking the horn, stopping at businesses and trick or treating along the way. We did this for over 2 hours (imagine 40 preschoolers gone for 2 hours and not a single child needing to use the restroom). It was so much fun, if only our son had a more 'sit down friendly' costume. Our daughters' school celebrated as well. They had a bike raffle, haunted house, special barbecue lunch, and costume contest. While not nearly as many kids dressed up as they do in the States, we were pleasantly surprised at all the children who did. Our daughter even won 'Prettiest Costume' with her Cleopatra costume.

Preschool class trick or treating at local business

Decorated trailer for trick or treating

As the evening arrived, we really didn't know what to expect since so many neighbors seemed to give us a different idea. Of course since I am a foodie at heart and I believe every celebration should be accompanied fun meal, I spent the evening preparing food--jack o lantern quesadillas, mummy cupcakes, witch finger cookies, bloody zombie punch, snake shaped calzone, and some good dips. If it weren't for the fact that our small propane tank ran out of gas just as I was starting to cook the tortillas and calzone (thus leading Andy on a frantic search to fill a propane tank after business hours), the meal prep went great. After he returned with gas, I finished cooking the meal, while he took our 4 youngest kids and the two neighbor girls out to enjoy the evening. There was even a house down the street who put together a haunted house, complete with frights and screams, for just 50 cents admission. We got some trick or treaters (though not a lot), some of whom were in costume and others who were not. Since Belize lacks the safety paranoia that is often present in the States, I was able to have homemade witch finger cookies bagged up and give them out as treats, without any troubles. The kids all really seemed to like those.

Over all, Halloween here exceeded our expectations but certainly didn't live up to the hype it is in the U.S. Still, we had fun and certainly made the best of it. Now if only they celebrated Dia de los Muertos down here like their border neighbor, Mexico does....