Trick or Treat in China

I love October! The whole month feels like a big build up for Halloween – costumes and games and candy and fun, even in Guangzhou where the weather still feels warm.

We decorated our classrooms and the big areas of the kindergarten to get ready for our Halloween day! I really love that the kindergarten celebrates so many holidays in a big way. It makes it so fun and festive, and it’s a great way to introduce some more English words and songs to my kiddos.

We made masks in class one day and the kids loved it!

I’ve also been helping with other after school English programs. The director is so great and she said “Rachel, let’s take the kids trick or treating. Can you do that?” YES. This is not a normal Chinese tradition and something I’ve never experienced in China, so it was fun to try.

The kids came to class in the most adorable costumes – witches, princesses, pumpkins. I taught some Halloween words and we played some games and sang songs.

And then they learned the trick or treating song. We went to many shops and businesses near the school and sang to them, and the children really loved it. (Although in some of these photos I’m the most excited looking one.)

Finally on Halloween Day the parents and children came to the kindergarten, bright eyed and dressed up and cameras out. It was a big day for me as the foreign teacher for my class as I had to lead the songs and games and the craft we did with all the Chinese parents watching.

We made these cute little spiders and the parents helped them.

Afterwards the kids yelled some Halloween phrases in teams, trying to speak louder and get more candy. Then they swarmed all of us foreign teachers yelling “trick or treat!” to get candy from us.

It was fun to experience Halloween again in China in a different way! In previous years I was always with university students or other teachers, so being with kids added an extra element of fun!

I also went out with my friend Amy for a Halloween celebration – we got quite a few stares and lots of photo requests!