Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween in Spain / "Jalogüín" en España

Although not many people celebrate Halloween here in Spain I couldn´t pass up celebrating one of my favorite holidays, so we decided to have a small little family Halloween party. Grandma sent a fun Halloween package with some cute tops for the kids and fun treats. Thanks Grandma! Diego and I started out the day running around getting all the things that we needed for the party and we actually found some Halloween decorations! When I say running around I literally mean running around since we don´t have a car. I would say that we probably walked 4 or more miles! We also had an ultrasound scheduled for the day so we had to fit that in too. The OB said that everything looked normal, i.e. amniotic fluid, heart, kidneys, bladder, and her size. We were happy with the results since when we had the last ultrasound the tech was a little worried about the amount of fluid and her size.

So here are the results of all our work. I must say it definately paid off! The kids loved it and we didn´t even get one whine or complaint! The kids decided to dress themselves up and this is what they came up...Jacob decided to be a mad scientist, Lauryn a Flamenco Dancer, Aitana a princess, Ryan, well he ended up dressing up like a white trash baby after spilling one too many things on himself, and Alejandro, a farmer.

We started off with a fun and healthy dinner, hot dogs, pizza, chips, and punch. Oh, did I say healthy? My mistake. After dinner we play pin the nose on the pumpkin. Even Ryan liked it.



The kids loved the eat the donut off the string with no hands, but it didn´t last too long since the donuts quickly fell to the floor. Three second rule!!


Next, crafts! I am always a little leery of crafts during parties because the kids are usually a little crazy and uninterested, but the kids actually enjoyed the candy spiders and Halloween book marks. Short, sweet, and to the point!


O.K. why not a few more treats to get the kids completely sick. Grandma sent this Halloween cupcake kit and it made a whopping 6 cupcakes, but enough sprinkles and frosting mix (you had to add powdered sugar, butter and water to the frosting mix, I think that the frosting mix was just food coloring) for like 20 cupcakes. The kids loved them!

Next Tía Pily told the kids a spooky Halloween story. She gets hired to do story telling a lot and the kids loved it. They got a little creeped out when the vampire in the story grabbed a knife, but then were cracking up when she started singing about using the knife to spread some peanut butter!


O.K. finally the grand finale! Trick-or-treating!! The kids went door to door to each bedroom. They had such a fun time and since we bought all the candy we didn´t have a plethera of too many tootsie rolls, hard candy, mints, dumb dumbs, etc. You know the candy that sticks around until the next Halloween! Purely the good stuff that we knew they would like!



All and all it was a hit and I must admit it ended up being just as fun or funner than Halloween in the states....No one got cold trick or treating, no one was over tired from a day full of too many activities (well, except for mom and dad), and no one threw up! (at least not yet).

11 comments:

Taryn said...

Good thinking! I hope your kids remember it and appreciate your parenting when they are older. Heaven only knows none of them appreciate us now! Happy Halloween.

Callie said...

Fun stuff! I am glad you guys had such a fun halloween. You guys are way creative.

Amie said...

We actually went trick or treating on your block and hung out at your house with the Humphreys. The neighbors were mostly gone, but the kids did score full-size candy bars from one of the houses down the street! Luckily, the Halloween Fairy arrived last night and exchanged most of the loot for a new game! I was hoping all that walking would send me "over" but to no avail!!!! I think you might have your baby before me!

Andrea said...

How fun! And all in all, it sounded pretty great, the kids came up with their own costumes, only getting the good treats for trick or treating, and ESPECIALLY, the no having to deal with jackets or dark, other people running around, and people ringing your doorbell REALLY late (even though your light is off and clearly everyone is in bed.)

The Webb Family said...

Wow! Sounds like a lot of fun Melany. Glad the US went well and all is fine with baby.

Rachel said...

What a great idea! The kids look like they are having a blast!

Clark Club said...

I'm so glad that you had so much fun. LOOK I FIGURED OUT HOW TO LEAVE A COMMENT!

www.mostblessedman.blogspot.com said...

It appears that Halloween is fun for kids all around the world.

Marie said...

You guys are amazing! Happy late Halloween. Ryan wins my vote for best costume. I'm glad baby and mom are doing well.

Heherjo said...

We love you and miss you! Looks like Ryan and Rex were twins once again thanks to Grandma Vickie. I will have to send you a picture of Rex in his skinny bones shirt. Your kids are so cute and so big. I want to see more pictures of you next post.

Unknown said...

You're freakn awesome!!