Around the world, Halloween is becoming more popular each year and I feel personally responsible for this phenomenon. Don’t get me wrong, I know the world does not revolve around me – I’m on the earth, it’s the moon that revolves around me – but I do know that Halloween happens to fall on my birthday and I’ve noticed that each year when I celebrate my birthday in a different part of the world, Halloween gets more popular there.
Beijing was not immune to this affect as this year the beijingkids Club hosted not one, but two Halloween parties. Unable to grace both, this year we opted to return to the “birthday” bash at the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing. As in years past, there were a slew of treats, decorations galore (not to mention some light-hearted gore), an abundance of costumes, and a buffet that kept on giving (the sliders were great). Children carved jack-o-lanterns, went trick-or-treating on one of the hotel’s floors, bobbed for apples, danced (with abandon or reluctance depending on the child), played games, and basically had a fantastic time.
The noticeable change this year was the entrance to the party. The Hilton has a new general manager this year and it seems he and his wife are fans of the spooky holiday. They personally orchestrated the creation of all the decorations and created a long haunted house in the foyer, complete with a floating spirit, old cemetery and figures cloaked in black (death or death eaters, I was afraid to ask). Alas, I have no photos in the haunted house since Reina was curious enough to enter it, just not curious enough to do so without me carrying her every time we had to pass through the haunted house. However, I’m sure photos will surface on this website.
All in all, it was another great Halloween party and there were even a few rounds of “Happy Birthday” sung in my honor, which was really heart warming for me. I’m told that people would have sung it even if I hadn’t instigated the singing; something to keep in mind next year.
