There’s nothing like candy to get a kid to wear a wig. Even if for only five minutes, my little bumblebee was the cutest (and maybe the only?) bumblebee in attendance at this year’s first session of the 9th beijingkids Halloween Party on Sunday, October 25 at the Canadian International School of Beijing. My 22-month old son was one of dozens of little pumpkins, but he didn’t mind. Unique costume or not, I was really there for my daughter. (Editor’s note: Click here for details on how to book tickets for the party at Keystone).
Echo will be four in January. We’re almost never in Canada in the fall, so besides occasionally putting her in costumes until she itched herself out of them, Halloween hasn’t been given much airtime in our household. So this year, at such a big event – put it this way: her eyes were wide, round lollipops.
The event included many vendors offering games and treats in exchange for scans of their WeChat QR code or a passed brochure. I laughed at the purist in me for assigning their advertising as the essential Halloween “trick.”
I would have liked to check out the haunted house, but the young man at the entrance with fake blood on his mouth was too scary for my bumblebee. The trick-or-treating down a hallway of classrooms, on the other hand, with the knocking, the yelling of “trick or treat!” and then the costumed respondent giving out free candy – well, my daughter got the hang of that very quickly and was overjoyed to be filling her little plastic pumpkin.
Afterwards, emerging from that hallway, I found myself tearing up. It wasn’t a sudden growth in sentiment for Halloween; it was more about the overall message in our attendance. My little Canadians and me (and my incredibly supportive in-laws) were at the Canadian International School of Beijing celebrating a very popular North American holiday – successfully instilling an aspect of their other country’s culture despite being so far away. My eyes filled up with a mixture of homesickness and pride.
Next step: figure out how to police the consumption of that little pumpkin’s stash…
Photos: Courtesy of Ember Swift
