We have an American living with us at the moment and she's fond of observing American traditions such as Christmas and Halloween.
In order to facilitate the proper observance of Halloween I thought we might escort my son out around the local neighborhoods.
This last minute decision saw me turning one of his printed black t-shirts backward, pinning a pillowcase around his neck, placing a borrowed pointy hat on his head and labeling him "baby Gandalf."
A lot of Kiwis don't like Halloween. They think it's incredibly rude to knock on a stranger's door and demand sweets (or anything else for that matter). The implied threat of a "trick" doesn't go down either.
Alex, being a true kiwi child, didn't take naturally to asking strangers for candy. He silently watched as candy was put into his bucket at the first house. At the second he handed a piece of his candy to the little girl who gave him a goody bag. At another house he whispered "trick or treat" so faintly the man at the door leaned down and said, "what was that now?"
We found that it was almost impossible to tell who was giving out candy and who wasn't. Some people made a slight attempt to decorate with a spiderweb over a light fixture and others just sort of watched for you from a doorway with no decorations at all.
At one house a woman held out a bowl with a skeleton over it and when Alex went for a piece of candy, she pressed a button that made the skeleton come down on his hand and give an evil laugh.
Alex was horrified. I marked that moment as a time my son would later discuss in therapy. "Why am I apprehensive of strangers with bowls? Let me think back..."
We did a lot of walking for very little reward but the other American seemed happy and Alex didn't care so that was okay.
When we got home, Alex was allowed to pick out one piece of candy while his chaperones taste tested the rest of it for "safety reasons."
And that was Alex's first Halloween.
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