Spooky season!
Ina
What a blissful season this is: autumn! Have you already gotten your pumpkins and autumn leaves? I sure have! In this blog I talk about my first real Halloween experience in England!
Who am I?
I'm Lotte, you know, that overly enthusiastic author with the old soul. I am a design student and have my own business: Designs by Lotte. I am addicted to everything Titanic related, vintage stuff and history. I am a hopeless romantic and can enjoy cozy spaces and then completely drown in them. My Hamley debut Unsinkable is coming out on April 14, 2021! Fun fact: the release date is on the same date the Titanic hit the iceberg. Well, really that's not a FUN fact, but we deliberately chose this date to provide an extra feel get at release.
Hamleyween
Anyway, we are approaching Halloween and I have been given the honor of writing a blog about it! I thought it would be fun to pen down a bit of experience about my time in England while working there as an Au Pair (nanny). This was from September 2016 through March 2017. I moved in with a family consisting of mom and dad, three kids and three dogs. A lot of work, but incredibly fun!
When it was almost Halloween, my host father really pulled EVERYTHING out of the closet. In his attic, he just had an entire room reserved for his Halloween stuff. I was allowed to help decorate the house. I lived in Shenfield, Essex, a quiet, perfectly normal village where nothing strange happened. At least, that's what I thought. When Halloween arrived, all the beautiful houses had been transformed into true haunted houses. Not only did we decorate the outside of the house with cobwebs, skeletons, tombstones, large spiders, self-carved pumpkins, but the inside of the house had to go too. I almost didn't remember the house, it was bizarre!
In movies and series, I saw Americans and Brits celebrating Halloween and I always thought it was exaggerated, but when I was in England and experienced it up close, it was even more lavish than I knew from the movies. Walking from the supermarket to the house, I passed hundreds of haunted houses. Things were moving, making sounds. It was basically a big carnival.
Not only did the children go dressed up, so did the parents and so did my host parents. I had to go too. I had no outfit, of course, because I didn't expect it to be such a serious party. Fortunately (I think?) my host mother had another outfit: the Bride of Frankenstein. I had rags draped around me. Coincidentally, just that day I had dyed my hair pink with purple streaks. I was ready. My smallest host child, a 6-year-old girl, was dressed as an elf with a very large magic wand you could knock people out with. My second-oldest host child, an 8-year-old boy, was dressed as a skeleton and the oldest, a 10-year-old boy, was a sexy vampire. I remember that because I had to smear tight eyeliner under his eyes because he wanted to be very handsome for the girls in the village.
When night fell, we all stayed in the house first, waiting with a bowl of candy for the trick or treat little kids who came to the door. It felt like I was in a movie, was what this fun! Of course, my host kids (and parents) had to give the visitors at the door quite a scare.
Apple bites
After an hour, we were allowed to pass by the doors. We were all given a bucket (yes, me too) to collect candy in. It was dark but the streets were lit by spooky Halloween lights. The streets were populated with children and parents dressed up in the oddest outfits. No house was safe from the children, craving candy. I could hardly keep up with my host children. Especially when the oldest, with his sexy vampire costume and tight eyeliner, spotted a group of female classmates, I struggled to keep everyone together.
After we were at the doors, we walked to the town square, where there were all stalls and games, such as apple bites and digging in the horror box. There were performances. The ordinary village of Shenfield had been completely transformed into a festival. Everywhere you looked you saw something new. Children were scaring each other, screeching with joy and running in circles around you. Some exchanged candy with each other. Eventually I emptied my bucket of candy into other children's buckets as well. I don't really like candy anyway.
We ended the evening with pizza and soft drinks at my host parents' house. A few other parents came over with their children to join the party. Even though I was exhausted from all the impressions and keeping an eye on my host kids, it was a night to remember. I must admit that I was happy when I could take off my outfit and get into bed when the party was over. However, I was not so happy when I had to clean up all the decorations the next day.
That was my first Halloween in England. I enjoyed it SO much and look back on it with a big smile. If you ever get the chance to experience a similar thing, I would say do it!
I hope you enjoyed my blog. Happy Hamleyween!
Love, Lotte