ohippy

Every Halloween we have a big party for the street. I spend a day decorating the house and making pizza slices into witches fingers and hard boiled eggs into eyes. You know the sort of things. We love it (but don't tell the vicar !) :scared:

What I want to know is - do they do this sort of thing in Oz ? Is it worth me bringing all my house decs including plastic rats and bats or should I bin them ?

herrchook

I'm sure some people, if not many, will celebtrate like you, and if not, why don't you start the trend It could be a great way to get to know your neighbours.

Bordy

Its called Pollyannas day in Aus.

ohippy

It's how it worked when we moved into our current house. No one in the cul de sac ever spoke to each other. We moved in, threw a halloween party with a bucket of punch and now they never shut up

Just don't want to make a t*t of myself in Oz and throw a party for an event no one knows anything about or, worse still, disapprove of

flip

Having a halloween party for my 40th - have only been here 2 months and already have a guest list of nearly 60 people. Everyone's up for it - Aussie's and Brits alike and many of my guests are bringing their friends so it's a great opportunity to get to know people.

On a packing note - bring everything you like. You're more likely to have regrets about stuff you leave than stuff you bring.

vics

Hi Ohippy

We brought all our Halloween decorations with us (- multiple big boxes of them! PSS packers, Customs and unpackers probably thought we were mad!!!). Like you we have a party every year - fancy dress with family and friends rather than the whole street though! We are planning one this year but will be odd not to have the usual crowd of people at it - somehow I don't think they will travel to Perth just for the one night!

Whilst a couple of people that I have spoken to at work have said that they have been to halloween parties before I don't think it is particularly big here. Its a bit surprising as there is quite an American influence here so I would have expected it to be more popular.

Having said that, if you have space to ship your things then I would say that you should definitely bring them. I have been looking around lately and have seen only a couple of places in the main shopping centres that are selling anything to do with halloween (I'm in Perth northern suburbs by the way). Back in the UK the shops are probably swimming with halloween decorations and costumes by now. I am therefore really pleased that we brought ours with us.

If anyone in Perth knows of any good places for Halloween stuff then I would be REALLY grateful if you let me know. Not that we particularly need any more decorations etc but I just like looking! Will be investigating the party shops soon...

Also, not sure what we are going to do about pumpkins - I usually carve about 5 of them to put in windows (have a kit with stencils and everything) - but the ones in the shops here are green rather than the big orange ones. Probably to do with it being a different season here I guess (but I'm not a farmer!). If anyone can tell me otherwise then please feel free....

ohippy

Thanks for that - will ship the lot then. Yep, shops full of stuff for Halloween, even more than last year too !! It is in competition with the Christmas stuff tho - Sainsburys and Tesco's crackers, pud, cake and mice pies out already !

flip

I found a shop in Melbourne called Lombards that does the decorations and stuff. I wondered if you have the same outlet in Perth.

Re: pumpkins - I've been reading a lot about Halloween recently and I found that pumpkins weren't actually used for the original jack-o-lanterns it was actually turnips and they were adapted to American veg when the Irish shipped over as they couldn't get turnips there. I guess we'd better just adapt to green pumpkins - at least the soups good!

Have fun!

vics

Quick update - checked out a couple of party shops yesterday. Most had nothing (yes, nothing) for Halloween - seemed to mainly be balloons and party plates. But one has quite a lot of costume accessories, plus some decorations including pinatas. Its called Party Town and is on Stirling Highway, Claremont (Perth) for anyone else who is interested. Prices were pretty reasonable and of course I ended up buying a load more stuff for our party.

Also a really cool place if you are having a big party is the Perth Prop and Party Shop - just google them as they have a website. They hire out lifesize cut-outs etc on all themes - even have big iron gates to make out like your house is a castle. I was tempted to hire their lifesize coffin (not a real one - just looks like one from the outside as it doesn't have any lining inside so you can't actually open it). Thought it would be cool to sit in the corner at our party :scared: (was $66 for the weekend), but it won't fit in the car......

vics

Thanks flip - haven't seen Lombards on my travels but will see if there is one in the phone book.

Interesting about the turnips - but I think I will stick to the green pumpkins! Will have to buy one and experiment before the party!

kirsty&al

We had a Halloween party last year and all the Aussies thought it was great. We had lots of games including the traditional ones like apple bobbing.

We did hold the party last year on the day before Halloween (for various reasons) but luckily this meant that we held it before the clock change for summer so it was dark enough to have a lantern parade. We had a lot of littlies and the party finished at 8pm. Note in Melbourne the sunset time is about 7pm before the change and 8pm after the change.

Another thing to note was that we didn't get any trick or treaters. This is probably because we are now semi-rural. I've got nothing against trick or treat for small kids, but when you have 15 year olds turning up at your door demanding sweets I think they're taking the mickey bliss.

A

ohippy

Thanks for info. Good to know I can still party and maybe, without the stuff in the shops, I'll spend less.

My kids do go treating (no tricks allowed) with hubby - I won't go as not my thing. They only go round our cul de sac but still get loads of sweets. I always have a box of sweets - sometimes loads turn up and sometimes none - when that happens I scoff the lot !

lacey21

My little boy is naffed off cos his birthday is on Halloween and they don't celebrate it over there. He says that he hopes it will be as special

awwww bless
lace x

debbiemc

where is pollyanna, i havent seen her around for aaaaaages!?

debs

ohippy

Awww, poor guy.

You can still have a party and dress up then, Lace, you could pop out the front, kneel down, ring the bell and pretend to be a kid trick or treating. Get changed into different costumes and repeat several times.

Alternatively, live near us, Halloween became very special to us when hubby decided to use display fireworks in our tiny back garden for Guy Fawkes (we always used to have a firework party, now it's Halloween )

Heather