Opinionation: Happy Halloween from Singapore!

Last Halloween we were traveling, so we didn't celebrate at all. This year, though, was a different story.

Halloween is not a Singaporean holiday. In fact, apparently it's barely an Australian holiday (according to my Australian friend who had never been to a Halloween party!!): in its current incarnation, it's really a North American thing.

Luckily for my holiday spirit, it is widely celebrated in Singapore anyway. This is due to: 1. the very large number of expats here and 2. the global dominance of the United States, especially in the cultural sphere (something that never ceases to amaze me: it is hard to comprehend how all-powerful America is until you travel to other countries). You can buy Halloween candy, Halloween costumes, plastic pumpkin baskets and all kinds of decorations at the local grocery store, there are numerous haunted houses to visit, many schools hold Halloween parties, and there is even trick-or-treating (though the last is kind of a lame version, only at expat-dominated places like condo complexes, and heavily sanitized).

We went to three Halloween events this year: a party in the morning; a party in the afternoon; and trick-or-treating in the evening. (We also did pumpkin carving and cupcake decorating on a different day.) I could have taken R to several additional events, but three was pretty much my limit (and hers too: she was totally exhausted by the end of the day).

Party #2 (actually more people were there but it's hard to coordinate so many babies)

R was a Chinese tiger (our friend sent us the costume from Chengdu: it's really a traditional Chinese snowsuit, as they like dressing babies up as tigers). It was really cute (if a little too hot for the tropics, even though I removed all the lining and stuffing). Sadly all my pictures are bad (my friend took this one).

She was very enthusiastic about the costume (her current favorite book is The Tiger Who Came to Tea, maybe that's why?) and kept checking herself out in all mirrors admiringly. My week-long propaganda campaign about how exciting dressing up for Halloween would be might have worked as well. (Many of the other toddlers at the parties refused to wear their costumes, so I was glad I had prepped her.)