Halloween Fun!

As Halloween is one of our family's favorite holidays, so we were a bit nervous to hear that Halloween is not considered a holiday in Poland.  We really wanted our kids to experience the fun of corn mazes, pumpkin carving, and trick or treating as they are at such a fun age!

The reasons why Halloween is not celebrated in Poland are: 1) over 92% of the population is Catholic and there has often been a debate about Halloween being a satanic holiday and 2) the focus is put on November 1, All Saints' Day, as it is a national holiday in Poland.  We are very much looking forward to our plans for All Saints' Day this year with the Blackburns at a local cemetery - I promise to post about that experience in November!

Well, we are happy to report that we have found a lot of Halloween fun here in Poland!

Over the last couple of weekends, we have visited two Fall/Halloween places!

The first is a local "pumpkin patch" that is setup on the side of a major highway.  We couldn't see much as we drove by, but the wheelbarrow of pumpkins by the side of the road drew us in and we decided to check it out! We were pleasantly surprised by the activities for the kids - trampoline, petting zoo, haystack maze and swing set fun!



The second event was a cute little festival next to our neighborhood that we walked to today! It was supposed to be open at 11 - we showed up at 11:05 - and when we arrived we were told that they wouldn't be ready until 11:30/12.  Ha! We enjoyed the one-on-one attention from the art teachers and the open space. We may venture back tomorrow to see the horses and the maze!



The kids have a pumpkin patch field trip on Tuesday and their Halloween school party on Wednesday of this week (due to a fall school break the following week).  The kids are ready with their costumes (thanks to Once Upon a Child stock up before we left) and they are definitely ready to get their sugar on!