Tag Archives: Hallowe’en

A Night of Hope – World Vision and Halloween

Halloween is not my favourite time of year.  I’m not keen on trick or treating, neither doing it nor being on the receiving end – I keep the lights off at the front of the house once it is dark, and just hope no-one rings the bell.  Until I had children, it was fairly easy to avoid the whole thing, but I can’t do that now.  I prefer to focus on Autumn and Harvest, and not dwell too much on the scary stuff, though I am okay with the children exploring it if it is their own idea.  So our Halloween activities tend to be a mishmash of things with a lot of different influences.

I will write a post later with more about what we have been up to, and some photos.  It has involved potions in cauldrons, Halloween toast, dressing up, some traditional Halloween games and eating sweets and chocolate!  Now the older three children are at church, at the Rainbow Party – an alternative celebration for Halloween, so I don’t think they are missing out on the fun.

Given my ambivalence towards Halloween, I was really glad to hear that this year, World Vision want to turn a night of fear into a night of hope, and very happy to support their campaign.  This is what they have to say about it:

“Our children enjoy the frights of Halloween one night a year, but for many children around the world there are real things to be afraid of. World Vision is fighting to make the world a safer place for young people vulnerable to child marriage, malnutrition, dirty water and more. Read more about how we helped Sylvia from Uganda escape child marriage at fifteen on our campaign page.”

FB & Twitter pumpkin teaser no2 806x806

World Vision are asking people to carve a heart in a pumpkin as a sign of hope, and if you send them a picture you will be included in their night of hope gallery.  Everyone who downloads their Night of Hope pack will be entered into a competition to win a cookery class with Lesley Waters and a free night’s accommodation worth £300.  Obviously it would have been good if I had told you this before Halloween, but you might be able to sneak an entry in if you are quick!

We have an eclectic mix of pumpkin decorating styles going on in our house.  Knowing that the poor neglected pumpkins growing in our garden were rather small, I bought a medium sized one to add to them.  Daddy then bought an enormous one which the children couldn’t even lift!  I have carved hearts and stars into the one I bought, and some more stars in the best of our home-grown bunch.  Owl asked for a pumpkin with the word Jesus carved on it, and luckily daddy was able to do that just before he left for work – I’m impressed, as it looked rather tricky to do.  Rabbit really wanted one with a face on so I used one of our little ones for that.  We still have a couple left so I might do some more tomorrow.

Night of Hope 1

The reason the face is a different colour is that we used a small electric “candle” which we were given by a friend yesterday.  The ones with the real candles in look a bit more atmospheric, but I wasn’t sure about putting one in such a tiny pumpkin where the flame would be very close to the edge.

Night of Hope 2

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12)

I’m pleased with how our random collection of pumpkins have turned out, and it feels good to be a small part of a campaign to improve the lives of many children around the world.  Closer to home, I am thinking of a beautiful little girl who should be with her mummy and daddy this Halloween – instead we will be gathering in Reading on Saturday to remember her on the day that she has been dead for as long as she was alive.  And as always I am also remembering a very special little boy who should be with his family too.  I can never light a candle without thinking of these two little people, so Freddie and Matilda Mae, the hearts and stars are for you and your families tonight xxxx

Half term and Halloween, Fireworks and Toffee

I’m still rather behind on blogging but before I forget everything, here is at least some of what we did in half term week…  I spent most of the week trying to catch up on washing and housework after our weekend away in France, and I wasn’t feeling full of energy to do lots of creative things with the kids.  Luckily Dramabuds came to the rescue.  The big three went on a drama camp for three mornings (Tuesday to Thursday) finishing with a brilliant Halloween performance.  Owl was a wizard, Monkey a ghost and Rabbit a bat, and they all had a fantastic time.  On the Tuesday afternoon there were also two Dramabuds parties, one for the little ones which Tiddler and I went to, and one for the older children afterwards.

On Tuesday evening, Suburban dad carved a pumpkin lantern, and on Wednesday Rabbit and I made pumpkin soup.  We lit the lantern when it got dark and we decided that it would look even better with Monkey’s Diwali candle beside it.

On Wednesday afternoon, the little two went to Home ed group without me, at their friends’ house.  They had fun doing Halloween activities, and enjoyed having their own outing without the older ones.  While they were out, I did the flour cake game with the big two, and they played with the flour for a long time afterwards (the handprint is Owl’s.)

In the evening, we all played the apple game (standing on a chair and dropping a fork into a bowl of apples – like ducking for apples but easier!) and then the big two went to the rainbow party at church, and little two had a “party” at home.  This was Rabbit’s idea, and I didn’t mind, as all she wanted was to choose her own supper (fishfingers followed by maltesers and pineapple pieces!) and then play musical statues with Tiddler.  Best party I’ve been to for a while.

I can’t remember what else we did that week, but I know it involved a lot of Lego.  Among other things, Rabbit made a Duplo model and Monkey and Owl made Lego vowels.

 

We had a quiet weekend at home, as Owl and Tiddler had a tummy bug.  We had planned to have a bonfire on the Sunday evening, but we had to postpone it as the boys weren’t well, and also it was a rather wet day for building a fire.  We did have fireworks and sparklers though, and Suburban Dad and Supergirl made bonfire toffee and toffee apples.

Rabbit’s pumpkin soup

This is a guest post by Rabbit.

I made pumpkin soup with mummy and I ate it and it was really yummy.  This is how we made it.  We fried some chopped onions in the pan, and then we added some cloves of garlic.  I peeled the skin off the garlic.  Then I added chopped pumpkin and butternut squash and some water.  I also put in some mixed dried herbs, some cumin, salt and pepper, and some vegetable stock powder.  We cooked it for about half an hour, then mummy blended it.  We ate it for supper on Hallowe’en.