It’s our first Halloween here in Canada. If you’re thinking I got the title wrong. Nope, it’s not my baby’s first time, but “My” first time trick or treating. It’s my Baby’s second.

When I was a kid, nobody celebrates Halloween, at least in the neighborhood I grew up in but that might be a different story for rich kids. If there’s one thing I’m sure of, we Filipinos look forward to November 1 and 2 (All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day) holidays that doesn’t fall on a weekend.

What is Halloween and Trick or Treat?

I have exactly no idea what Halloween is and why children trick or treat until I read this article. I’ll take the Christian origin, where the holiday falls on the days before the feast of All Hallows where in Christians would honor the saints and pray for souls who have not yet reached heaven.

As per the same article, trick or treating was brought by immigrants and was first used in America in 1927. Disguising gave way to threatening pranks in exchange for sweets back then. Today, Halloween and trick-or-treating  mainly revolves around children.

My first experience trick or treating

Before Halloween came, we asked friends on how to do trick or treat, and they told us to just knock and say, “Trick or treat?” when the door opens and that’s it. Our apartment building didn’t have one so we planned to do it in the nearby residential area. In our minds, it’s very important to choose our first door as this will dictate whether we’ll push through or not. ?

My baby dressed up as Elsa from Frozen and I dressed up like a man who is so afraid of getting cold. Haha. I wore jacket, jogging pants a bonnet to prevent me from chilling in the 6 degrees Celsius Toronto weather. At around 5:30 pm, we headed out to hunt for candies, chocolates and chips.

It took us around 10 minutes to choose the first door to knock on. 5 minutes was spent on deciding who should knock between me and my wife. We literally were standing outside the door pleading each other to be the one to knock. Finally, I gave in. To tell you honestly, that first knock was the hardest thing I had to do in a while aside from doing laundry. :D. Well, it turned our really great as our first blood was a very kind lady who had her bowl of candies ready when she opened the door.

We were picky and will only knock on doors that have Halloween designs outside. We treat these as invitations that give us the strength to knock. The three of us roamed around the city for around 2 hours before finally deciding to call it a day. My baby was still willing to continue but it was already getting late. We capped the night with a pumpkin basket full of candies and chips.

 

The first timer’s thoughts

It was really a good experience knocking on strangers’ door and getting candies in return. It’s definitely a new experience for me and my family. On a normal day, who gets free candies and chocolates for just barging into someones’ door? We didn’t get to celebrate our normal Philippine holiday but at least we realized that parents will do whatever it takes for their children get to experience the best out of their childhood. Even if it means knocking on someone’s door asking for candies. 😀

 

 

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