Halloween 2009

It seems that Halloween is finally catching on in Belgium. Not only did we have 2 parties to go to this year, but I also noticed that more shops had costumes and decorations than in years past. In addition, I heard that some schools (not just American) had Halloween parties for the kids, where they had to go to school in costume.

Rick and I have always loved Halloween. We, especially, like to get creative with our costumes. This year was no exception! Rick went as a beer monk and I a beer goddess, which was very fitting considering Rick's passion for Belgian beer. Beer is brewed in several monestaries throughout Belgium. An example of an abbey-brewed beer is Chimay, which is sold worldwide.

We had a lot of fun gathering the bits and pieces for our costumes at various thrift stores and tourist shops. We even went to a huge costume shop. We stuck a lot of beer paraphernalia all over us (including several beer coasters from our personal collection). I think the most amusing part of Rick's costume was the written saying on the back "Thou shalt not drink Jupilar". For those of you who don't live in Belgium, Jupiler is the equivalent of Budweiser in the U.S. Or maybe even worse...PBR!

One of the parties we went to was thrown by some American friends and a lot of the people there were Americans. On the other hand, however, we were the only Americans at the other party. It was interesting to note the differences in costumes between the two groups. There were mostly classic costumes, such as witches, devils and draculas at the European party. I would say that spooky and gory was definitely the theme there. Whereas, the costume choices amongst the Americans ran the spectrum...funny, conceptual, scary, etc. Rick and I were the only people at the European party that wore funny costumes, rather than scary ones. I must say that I was impressed with the costumes at the European party as well as the decorations. People really went all out. The costumes were done very well. Dressing up in costume is nothing new for Europeans, however. Carnival, which usually takes place in February with huge street parties, is celebrated in many cities and towns throughout Europe.

I had fun at both parties and enjoyed seeing my own culture being embraced across the pond!