Halloween is a tradition we never really celebrated in my family when I was growing up. My parents felt it was an American concept that they weren't keen on and in fact today they still won't answer the door to Trick or Treaters. As I have grown up for the most part I have agreed with them. I do think the Americans go overboard with their festivities. However on the other side of things I always think their decorations and candy collecting looks like so much fun and they do put us to shame.
Now my own children are growing up and becoming more aware of these celebrations, I am more open to being part of them. I'm still not sure about letting them trawl the streets knocking on strangers doors, and even less keen on answering my own door and handing out sweets to kids I don't know - I leave that for Mr H. When they are older and asking to go out, maybe I will reconsider.
For now, though, I am getting into the more fun side of the tradition which is pumpkin picking. We love an excuse to do something as a family and when I heard a farm near us were putting on a weekend of fun, I was more than happy to go along.
After a lovely lunch in the cafe there, we visited the greenhouses where best pumpkins had been set aside. We decided to give the field a visit first and see about actually picking our own, but in the meantime Miss H enjoyed having her face painted.
We decided to save the carving for when we were at home as it was pretty busy, so the children enjoyed a go on the bouncy castle and teacup rides (which made mummy extremely dizzy). It was a lovely autumnal afternoon enjoyed by all.
The next day after H had come home from nursery we set to carving our pumpkin. She had requested an Elsa design, so mummy put her best foot forward and tried to create the best Frozen princess I could. It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be - next time I will be investing in a carving set! I don't think it turned out too badly in the end, though.
Happy Halloween everyone!
