Comments on: The Grim Reaper Goes to Scotland

By: Jenny Jensen

Jenny Jensen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:32:24 +0000

Too late we found out there was trick or treating on one street in our Dutch town last night. My kids were MAD they missed it after I’d spent so much time explaining that kids do not trick or treat here. We did go to an expat kids costume party today with lots of candy and my traditional Halloween chocolate spider cake which helped assuage some hurt feelings. If we’re still here next halloween, I’m going to have to organize our street for trick or treating..though I’ve been warned that the Dutch also will expect a song or poem before they’ll part with any candy (as they do for St. Maartin’s Day).

By: Susanna (A Modern Mother)

Susanna (A Modern Mother) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:24:58 +0000

Too funny and too true.

However, Halloween is catching on here.

This is the first year I had a choice of a huge selection of Halloween decorations from Tesco. They even had that orange and black tinsel with jack-o-lanterns!

We had over 100 trick-or-treaters last night (a record) and ran out of candy.

A bunch of expat friends and kids came over and we had a really good time.

This is the first year it “sort of” felt like Halloween in the states.

By: Kim@Galavanting

Kim@Galavanting — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:33:03 +0000

Too bad they didn’t bring the potatoes to the sacrifice. Could’ve made a nice snack :).

By: Caitlin (Roaming Tales)

Caitlin (Roaming Tales) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:01:20 +0000

Great story! I have some potatoes on standby. I was going to buy Chupachups but this is a much better idea.

By: Seana

Seana — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:00:14 +0000

“We will walk through the woods and send away the evil spirits by yelling Wooo!” sounds like a Monte Python skit. This was hilarious.

By: Rebecca Tompkins

Rebecca Tompkins — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:25:07 +0000

In the past few years, more and more English people seem to have started Trick Or Treating, at least in London. Last year was actually quite a scene, much to my kids’ delight. Not a sacrificial wicker ram to be found in NW London, though, and so now I’m feeling like we missed all the fun!

By: Tisha

Tisha — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:57:10 +0000

I spent my 12th and 13th years in France, in a city that really didn’t have a lot of expats. We dealt with Halloween and Thanksgiving by inviting our French friends to our home to share our holiday with them. (Many later returned the favor by including us in their French holiday celbrations.)
So our halloween party included trick or treating to all of the different rooms in our house, though candy cornwas replaced with candied fruits from the local confisserie. Our costumes were all homemade concoctions from what we could find in our closets… and our Thanksgiving dinner included all american roast Turkey and mashed potatoes, with trimmings of gratin lyonnais, baguettes of french bread, leek pie, and a Tarte aux fraises for dessert. Not your traditional part in either case, but certainly a lot of fun!

By: PatriciaJ

PatriciaJ — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:59:33 +0000

too funny, I can see my two kids having identical reactions to yours…

By: pantrygirl

pantrygirl — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:58:50 +0000

the potato and naked british guy made my day.

By: Jody

Jody — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:25:34 +0000

Fiona, Yeah, the inn-keeper at Scotland told us about guising. She said that the kids will do a little something, like a little song or a joke, to get their treat. My kids were like, “No WAY am I going around singing a song!” See, they want something for nothing.

And Veronica, that’s true, my kids loved Guy Fawkes Day. They didn’t worry much about the political/religious part of it. They just loved the fireworks.