The company my husband works for owns a club in KC, which hosts an annual Halloween party for kids, that I love even more than the kiddos do.
Corny and cute, and full of Halloween fun, it's just adorable.
We decorated pumpkins, watched a magic show, ate ghoulish food, got some balloon animals, and went through a haunted house in the locker room. Well, through most of the haunted house, we backed out about half way through when we encountered a WEREWOLF!
Although, I did try to explain to the little ones that the employees of the club dressed up as the characters, and the werewolf was probably someone who drove the beverage cart and was actually a BEERWOLF.
But that was still a little too spooky, so we backed out and headed to the buffet to dine on fa-boo-lous foods.
I was a green haired witch, (the only adult not working there who was in costume, but hey, does that really matter?) and when I took a bite of the "witch's fingers" (french fries), I was accused of cannibalism by my tablemates.
There was a ton of candy to trick or treat from too. And little goodie bags filled with puzzles and coloring books.
I had the grandfairies for the weekend, so we made a day of the event by designing and making our own costumes from things found in the dress up closet. This vintage prom dress had some holes in it, which got flowers hot glued onto as patches, and we added straps with colorful ribbons and safety pins. A few more flowers were added to the wreath for her crown, it used to be a fairy garland that she'd worn to the Renfest..
I didn't think about the Day of the Dead theme being "cultural appropriation." That is a real problem in the world, but from all the people I've spoken to and the reading I've done, it can be a gray area in many cases.
My Hispanic buddy, Romeo, told me that he finds other ethnicities using Sugar Skulls offensive if it is done in a belittling or cartoonish manner. But if created in an appreciation of the beauty and heritage, he approves. And I can promise this wasn't chosen as a joke. As an artist, I was excited about producing my own version. And as a daughter who lost her mother, I was comforted by the culture of honoring the dead. A friend spoke to me about that after my mom died and I don't know if she ever realized how much her conversation meant to me.
Hopefully, I haven't offended anyone out there? If so, please know that wasn't my intention.
I hope you had a lovely Halloween, I know we did, although it was too cold to attend the annual Zombie Walk for me (and that was heartbreaking, but not so much that I'd brave the bad weather for it).
Now, time to deck the halls!!!!!!!!!!!
The ghouls are gone, bring on the bling!
