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celebrations and costumes

Jill4 Comments

Norwegians don’t really celebrate Halloween – well, some kids’ll dress up and try trick or treating but only about 20% of the houses they’ll visit will have realised it’s Halloween and have treats for them. I know this, because for the last few years my daughter’s happened to be at my place on Halloween and I’ve hosted the party and walked the kids around for the Trick or Treating. They do love the treats. This year my daughter’s with her dad this week, so no party. No pumpkins around our neighbourhood.

Don’t feel too sorry for us though. Here the dress-up-in-costume-and-get-sweets-from-the-neighbours-day is New Year’s Eve (or between Christmas and New Year in other parts of Norway) when kids always, always, always go carolling and always come home with ridiculous quantities of sweets. Norwegian kids get presents EVERY DAY in December in their advent calendars, which have little to do with religion in today’s Norway and everything to do with daily individually wrapped presents. (This year I have a nice big one ready with lots of pockets, and I bought the first present yesterday – much better than that horrid Donald Duck calendar she had two years ago, and that Tom reminded me of at the Edit 8.0 conference. Me, I’d managed to obliterate that memory of bad parenting, but the blog doesn’t lie. Well, not much.

Anyway, if I were dressing up for Halloween I would consider dressing up as a YouTube video. So simple, so nerdy. Thank you Tama, for the link.

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4 thoughts on “celebrations and costumes”

  1. Matthew

    An article in today’s local paper (BT) says that pumpkin popularity has skyrocketed. Also, Halloween parties have become very popular. Someone told me the other day that apparently Halloween is very “in” these days, and New Year’s Eve trick or treating is out. So I wonder…how popular is Halloween in other countries? How about Australia? Something tells me Halloween is here to stay, although last year I told the kiddies to come back on New Year’s. Isn’t once a year enough? I guess I’m going to have to convert.

    Jill, I remember those bloody fingers you baked last year, any new Halloween recipes you’d like to share? 😀

  2. Jill Walker Rettberg

    Well, Halloween certainly wasn’t part of the Australiannesses I got growing up mostly in Norway but with Australian parents. I don’t think we were even aware of it. Tama Leaver wrote today thta it’s still not really celebrated in Australia.

    I’m not really doing anything for Halloween this year, not even baking scary fingers. THis is because I’m not hosting a kids’ party and my daughter isn’t even here this Halloween – which is kind of a bummer actually. I quite enjoy Halloween.

    I don’t like the Norwegian version as well as the American version, though. Here in Norway it seems that it’s all about SCARY, whereas in the US people dress up as all sorts of things. In the US there are lots of non-commercial aspects – pumpkin-carving, homemade decorations and costumes, and wonderful haunted houses and hayrides that are often run by volunteer firemans brigades and so on, so the money they make goes to charity. Norwegian kids also seem unpleasantly hung up on the TRICK aspect of it all – even my sweet little ten-year-old girls last year were discussing egg–throwing and so on. I didn’t get that vibe in the States, though admittedly the Halloween I spent there we weren’t in a very kid-intensive area. Not one trick-or-treater, actually. The haunted hayride was great, though, and I loved all the decorations people had set up 🙂

  3. Matthew

    I don’t have kids but from what I’ve observed I think you’re right about the emphasis on scary here in Norway. When i think of Halloween I think of costumes and fun, carved pumpkins, lot’s of candles and decorations. Fun! I did got to a costume party last weekend and yet I feel today as if it’s New Year’s and I have no party to go to. Makes me want to host something next year. I guess my new iMac will have to serve as company for the evening 😀 Just gotta love Mac!

  4. butterfly-like network » Blog Archive » fun for Halloween

    […] Dress up as a YouTube video! (Via Jill.) […]

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