Trick or Treat

Yesterday was Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. Although Thai's do not typically celebrate Halloween, our neighborhood has a definite western and international flavor, so we had trick or treating.

Jacob dressed up as a vampire and the girls as princesses (Nalin as Ariel and Aleena as Snow White). I put on some red face paint, some horns and wielded a red trident in a poor imitation of the devil. Tim was stuck in traffic, so I took the kids out, while the nanny and maid passed out candy.

While my costume was passable, it was certainly not spectacular. While trick or treating, however, quite a few Thai people pointed at me. At least three asked me to take pictures with them or their child.

Getting candy for Halloween was a bit more challenging than in the states. You can't just go to Kroger where they have an aisle devoted to bags of Halloween candy. Instead, I went to the local grocery story where they had stocked up on boxes of candy. I bought M&M's, Kit Kats, and lollipops. I think I had one hundred and fifty to two hundred pieces. I found out that we ran out after only an hour or so. I'll talk more about that later.

There are a number of small subdivisions in our neighborhood, and in the true spirit of Halloween, I eschewed motor transportation, and decided that we would walk. Many of the kids were transported from subdivision to subdivision in cars or golf carts.

Now when I say that we walked, that was only true for Jacob, Nalin and I. After only about twenty minutes, I hoisted Aleena on my shoulders to relieve her little legs. We trick or treated for about an hour and a half, and covered a fair distance. The kids received a lot of candy. My niece and nephew also came and trick or treated with their friends. They had only a fraction of the candy that Jacob, Nalin and Aleena collected.

Although our neighborhood had trick or treating, not everyone participated. I would guess that twenty to twenty-five percent participated. That is actually not bad, given the number of houses. There were several subdivisions that we didn't go to because the kids were getting tired.

While Thai's do not traditionally celebrate Halloween, they like to have fun, so a number of them joined in the festivities. I would break them down into several categories. The maids and nannies in Nichada Thani (our neighborhood) participated by giving out candy or taking the kids out.

There were also Thai's like my nieces and nephews, who, while not living in the neighborhood, attend western schools and are familiar with the Halloween tradition. They typically dress up in costume just like your typical trick or treaters.

There were also a number of Thai's with no real connection to the neighborhood who came by carloads to participate in the free candy give away. Many of these Thai kids wore costumes, but certainly not all did.

In addition to the kids, there were Thai adults who trick or treated. These adults usually didn't wear costumes. Some would approach costumed kids and ask them for candy.

The kids were incredibly well behaved, and really had a lot of fun. I think that I enjoyed this Halloween more than most. Maybe the reason is that it was something familiar and fun in a land that is often unfamiliar and strange. Perhaps the kids’ age and enthusiasm made it more fun. In any case, it was a great time.