Halloween in Riverie 2017

Here we are again another Halloween in Riverie. I think this is our 4th Halloween participation. It's actually quite amazing as it is very popular in this village. I did around 60 "goodie bags" and by the end of the night we only had seven. This year we had the haunted house but no Halloween party at the castle. In fact this is the second year where there was no party. Kind of a bummer really as the kids love it.

Note: Halloween is just recently getting popular in France. It's not a celebration that is typically French. One thing is cool though, you have two days (November 1st and 2nd) off from school and work. These days are celebrated and are referred to as "All Saint's Day" and "All Souls Day."

We are ready Freddy!

 We even put Jack-O-Lanterns on our window sills.

 Jack-O-Lanterns on our window sills.

Same photo as above but in a different light.

 We had lots of trick or treaters from around 6pm to 8pm.

 Hehehe.... that's Norbert's face in the circle. He wore a different mask this year.

The costume on the right was a bit creepy!

 I bought these a few years ago at a swap meet.

 Closeup of scary skeleton dude.

Same photo as above but in different light. Different light adds to different mood.

 Entrance to the haunted house.

 The many cool displays in the beginning.

 I didn't take a whole lot of photos, but believe me the couple in charge of this put in a lot of hard work. Kudos to them for making Halloween in Riverie fun.

Organizing my candy for Halloween!

A good part of the day was putting these little black, die cut boxes together so I can put candy in them to give out to the kids Tuesday night. Between the boxes and gift bags I have over 50. I don't know whether to keep going or stop while I'm ahead. The reason why I did this is so the kids will get equal quantities in both types of candy and amount. Every year we get a good amount of children coming to our door, so I'm pretty confident I'm ready.

 Candy bags open to be sorted and put into boxes (left side)

 Boxes up close!

 Gift bags with candy in them but not finished....yet.

 More goodie bags in the making.

Boxes adding up next to the goodie bags.

 The "Peeps" are for us to munch on. I couldn't resist.

You can see how the gift bags have multiplied.

Fête Sensation Halloween

Today we went shopping for clothes and that was all we were going to do. However, we saw this party shop just a few doors down and checked it out. I needed black ribbon anyway and hoped they had some at a reasonable price. When we walked in the place was decked out in Halloween. The Halloween section was half the store. You had mostly costumes and decorations, not so much on candy (maybe that will change later). Also, there were people trying on and getting fitted for costumes in the stores corner fitting room. Employees were all dressed up as well. It looks like a fun place to work. 

 The usual costume in a package.

 Hats, hats this section had a lot of different hats!

 Hehehe, creepy masks.

 Lol, I think I have this guy!

 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) section.

 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) section.

 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) section.

 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) section.

 One of the many handful displays.

Great place for buying party stuff but it also has a seasonal section such as Halloween.

Another thing that pleased me is their party section had many things that I could use in crafting cards and atc’s. Most in bulk such as ribbon and specialized paper. Much cheaper than a craft store. My new favorite store!

Here's their website if your interested.

Fête Sensation Halloween

https://www.fetesensation.fr/

It has only been at the Givors location for about a year.

 

Halloween in Riverie 2015

Halloween is not usually celebrated in France but a lot of that is changing because of its youth. In the last three years my village has celebrated Halloween. First it was door to door trick or treaters and a party in the castle. Now every year for the last two years the village introduced a haunted house. The village is crawling with kids and teenagers. The costumes get better every year as well. France does observe November 1^st and 2^nd, and adding Halloween (or All Hollows Eve) would be the full observation of the three holy days.

A couple of things before the photos. While we were standing outside a bat was flying frantically all around us. I thought bats went into hibernation during this time. It was a huge surprise to see. The other thing, I hope next year people will decorate more. It really is fun, the decorating part that is.

 We bought three pumpkins this year. I drew in the faces, Norbert carved.

 Norbert found carving the pumpkins unusually relaxing.

 Closeup of the carving.

 The teeth Norbert cut out. The toothpicks help keep the teeth in place.

 Setting the teeth inside the mouth.

All three pumpkins carved, thanks to Norbert's hard work.

 

 All set for tonight.

 This costume scared a couple of people. If your not scaring anyone you're doing it wrong.

 Our lit up pumpkins.

 Some pumpkins across the way that were put out by some people.

Close up of the tiny guys.

 Another close up.

 Norbert getting into character.... looking scary.

 Whole display all lit up.

 Close up of our "bat" lights.

 Our first trick or treaters.

More trick or treaters. I would of loved to take more photos as there were some decent costumes. These last two photos were taken with my smartphone.