Halloween in Saudi

It was fun to experience our first Halloween in Saudi Arabia! I had no idea what to expect but knew it is a big deal here. In all honesty it was exactly like Halloween in the US but more low key which was really refreshing. Over the years in the US I always felt like Halloween was a month long holiday with all the parties and activities surrounding it. Here we just celebrated on the actual day! 

I did a lot of prep the night before making food for all the kids' class parties. 8 dozen pumpkin chocolate cookies for Carter and Makenna, 4 batches of kettle corn and 3 dozen sugar cookies and frosting for Addison! Whew! It was a lot!

The 3 big kids on their way to school. Carter was a ninja, Makenna a vampire and Addison was Ariel. I'm so so grateful that a local friend had family visiting this fall who very graciously brought our costumes from the states. I will be shopping for costumes next summer to make sure we get what we need and bring it back with us.

The school has a big Halloween parade that was so fun. The teachers got way into dressing up which was a hoot!

I got asked to be room mom for Addie's class and had fun putting together the party! Her class:

Mummy roll game:

 Cookie decorating station (always the biggest hit!):

 Spider hat craft:

Cute photo booth that another mom put together:

I stopped by Makenna's class and it was significantly more low key. It's amazing how fast that changes when they get a bit older. And kind of sad! Carter didn't even want me coming to his class - even more sad.

In the afternoon we carved our one lonely pumpkin. I looked and looked for a pumpkin to buy and finally found this small guy at a local grocery store. It was imported from the US and cost me a whopping $32. It was worth it to keep the tradition alive!

We met up with some good friends in our compound for dinner and ToTing. Some of the kids together:

Miss Ems enjoying her dinner in her hand me down cupcake costume. She was not amused by the costume again this year but quickly learned to be excited over the candy she got while ToTing. I have no idea why I packed Emery a costume but no one else.

 After ToTing one of the moms set up some fun games for the kids. They all loved bobbing for apples:

 I loved seeing all the different kinds of candy my kiddos got. THere are a few US brands here but lots of British candy which was fun for them. My friend who brought me costumes also snuck in a bag of candy corn. I hid it from the kids until I could decide how to use it and stretch it out. I ended up making this YUMMY Halloween Chex mix. So easy and very yummy!

The aftermath of our expensive pumpkin! I got about 8 cups of pureed pumpkin plus the seeds out of it. I had to milk everything I could out of it.

Overall it was a great Halloween. It will be so fun to build some new traditions in the KSA over the next few years!

Halloween Happenings 2011

I'm combining all things Halloween into one post in a desperate attempt to catch up. I'm working backwards - first up, costumes:

Miss Emery as the cutest strawberry ever! Addison dressed as Rapunzel, her favorite princess:The lovely Makenna as a Renaissance princess:

Carter as a Lego Man (made by yours truly - a true LABOR of love - seriously this thing took me about 20 hours to put together)
The kiddos together before ToTing:

Allen went to work dressed as a BYU super-fan (it's such a stretch, you know!) What you can't see in this picture is that his hair was actually bright blue too!

My kids surprise Halloween lunch:

Other things we did this month included decorating our spooky gingerbread house:

Addison's preschool Halloween party:LOTS of Halloween parties. This was a neighborhood party. The girls had their faces painted by an amazing artist who was there:

School Halloween carnival:

We also went to a pumpkin carving party and the ward Truck or Treat/Carnival (where I did not take a single picture since the YM were in charge and we were busy), carved pumpkins, and had our traditional dinner-in-a-pumpkin Halloween dinner.

One of our favorite treats we made this month (there were many!)

We had a great Halloween month (I swear this holiday goes for the entire month!) and are ready to enjoy a slower November while we gear up for the holidays

(PS I'm really, really glad I went easy on the girls costumes this year- all store bought. I told M & A that they had to wear their expensive dance recital costumes. Then Addie begged to be Rapunzel and I relented because she has NEVER asked to be anything for Halloween before. And then Kenna had to find a costume she was in love with too. I had good intentions ;) But I've also already got some ideas up my sleeve for them for next year!)

More Halloween Happenings

I don't know about you guys, but I am increasingly grateful for the month of November. Not only is it a wonderful month to focus on blessings and gratitude, I love that it provides a nice long lull between the craziness of Halloween and Christmas. After almost two weeks straight of Halloween festivities, I am thrilled to be leaving it behind this year. Here's a quick recap of the rest of our Halloween activities this year.

Spooky Gingerbread house decorating:


Pumpkin Carving:

Halloween Outfit Wearing:

{Addie had the same outfit as Makenna, I guess I never managed to get a picture of her in it}

Dance Class Halloween performances for the girls:

{Makenna's class danced to Monster Mash}
{Addison's class danced to Purple People Eater - I'll see if I can get the videos up once Blogger isn't so SLOW}

School Boo Bash:


{I only took a few pictures because I was single parenting as Allen was at a Scout Certification Campout - who plans these things for Halloween weekend?!? Between keeping track of Addie, holding treat bags, a camera and Addie's costume, not many pics were taken but it was a fun night! Every class had a booth/activity that the kids could participate in plus a parade, yummy food and unlimited cupcake walk!}

Ward Halloween Carnival:

{A family in our ward organizes a Halloween carnival every year for families who want to participate. Each family sets up a game or booth and we have a potluck dinner. It was SO much fun - my kids were in heaven and it was a very relaxed activity. C&M spent most of the evening playing with their friends at the park instead of playing at the booths!}

Traditional Halloween Dinner (dinner in a pumpkin & mummy dogs):


The big kids did not even wear their "official" costumes for Trick or Treating last night. They both pulled out costumes from our dress up box for the night. I was relieved that I didn't have to do pink hair/makeup again (the kids bathroom is still covered in pink hairspray) or do Carter's makeup. Overall, it was a great and busy Halloween season and we had a wonderful time this year.

A Thrilling, Delicious, Pink Halloween

Friday night was our ward Trunk or Treat/Halloween Party activity. It was so fun for the kids to get dressed up in their costumes already. We had absolutely ZERO say in what our kids decided to be this year. After seeing all the Star Wars characters and princesses at our ward party, I was really happy that my kiddos picked such unique things to be this year!

A few weeks ago Carter changed his mind from being a Star Wars Jedi to being the Michael Jackson zombie from the Thriller video. He LOVES MJ and that video gets watched a lot at our house. Aunt Laurie was so gracious to supply our costume again this year and sent this awesome red jacket that we doctored up with some tape to look like the Thriller costume. As you would suspect, most of the kids his own age had no idea who he was dressed up as but most of the adults knew exactly who he was.


When I asked Makenna what she wanted to be this year, she immediately said she wanted to be Pinkalicious and that she wanted Addison to be her cupcake sidekick. I loved the idea and we set to work pulling together a perfect pink costume for her. She was super nervous about having her hair sprayed pink and her skin painted but in the end she loved how she looked. The girls were a big hit at the party (though a lot of people did not know who Pinkalicious is - I thought every little girl knew and loved that book like mine do). Addie's costume is straight out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I had grand intentions of sewing this year but decided to give myself a break and purchase it instead!


I made the girls cupcake treat bags this year that turned out so cute! Carter used last year's bag since it still fit his theme for this year.
My cute gang together:We still have LOTS of Halloween action this year - school Halloween Boo Bash, ward Halloween carnival and then the actual day!