Which Witch Is Which?

From the desk of Jase:

Trying to get a few of these halfway-finished blog articles posted, so please forgive the un-timeliness of the topic--our first Halloween in France. One thing we noticed quickly about the way this holiday is "celebrated" here is that, while the kids certainly appreciate the opportunity to dress in costumes (they do this already during Carnaval season), there was nothing else familiar. No jack o' lanterns, no hayrides, no apple-bobbing, no organized trick-or-treating (except at the kids' international school). We did take the time to search out a few costume stores, and here's what we could find as costume options for the girls.

The Pink Witch

The Pumpkin Witch

The Devilish ("Diabolique") Witch

The Green Glamour Witch

Well, you get the point. Lest you think that I'm only picking a selected sample of the costume store, here is the wide angle of the aisle, with at least 7 more variations on this style:

So even though we could find some children's costumes, it's not like the aisles of endless variety you can find in any given Target or Walmart (also not nearly as affordable). Not surprisingly, there were a TON of little girls dressed up as witches at the school on Halloween, mostly of the scary and non-glamorous variety. It was worse for the boy costumes--most of the kids wore masks, bandied about all kinds of fake weapons, fake blood, zombie make-up, etc. So even though there was a semblance of Halloween, I'm not sure that they "get it" as anything more than a Designated Scary Day. Where were the Buzz Lightyears, the Luke Skywalkers, the Fairy Princesses, the Tiggers, R2-D2s, and Spidermans? Probably killed by the questionable kid with the Scream mask is my guess.

As an adult that could (without admitting anything here) condone mutual dress-up behavior--not specific to any single holiday--I have no problem with sultry witch costumes. But as a parent of small children, I was slightly concerned to see at the school only kids dressed as witches, vampires, and other "scary" characters. Furthermore, as a capitalist, I see a huge missed opportunity for all the costume-makers who remain firmly in the cute, fuzzy, or fun categories.

In the end, Jenica and Jocelyn dressed as...witches and they fit right in. Maisy, being a nonsensical 3-year-old, went for the total cliche of "Princess with Magic Wand," which she had been wearing since about August 27th in preparation for this performance.

We told Maisy to tell everyone she was a "good witch" to blend in since her classmates might not understand why she turned down a chance to be the "Girl from The Grudge."

Even more tragically, we were unable to drown our holiday disappointment in Fun Sized Snickers swiped during the annual safety inspection of the trick-or-treat haul. But breaking off pieces of Toblerone with a fake knife worked perfectly fine. Now THAT stuff is diabolic.