On Saturday night I was trick or treated by two girls dressed as a witch and a pumpkin.
Two Australian girls, in a small Australian city, in a suburban street. Their costumes were of the ‘off the shelf’ variety that is currently invading bargain and cheapie department stores, no personalisation, just a ‘Made in China’ tag.
Since when did Halloween become a celebration in Australia? It’s not a special event, it’s not part of our culture and doesn’t mean anything to us except perhaps an excuse to dress up in spooky or kooky attire.
I don’t know what these two girls were expecting. They knocked on my door (hopefully they tried the dysfunctional doorbell first and waited a good while) and interrupted my viewing pleasure of The Cat in the Hat. When I opened the door all they said was “Trick or treat” and held a bag open. Do they think that people just have handfuls of treats by the door ready to give them. Ah hello, this is not America and I haven’t got a carved pumpkin head on my verandah, sorry, porch.
So I sent them away empty handed, although with only an apologetic shrug of my shoulders, not a tirade against Halloween and tricking and treating.
Although, had they thought ahead of the time and knocked on my door a day earlier to say “Hi I’m Maddison, I live around the corner and I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to come around trick or treating tomorrow with my friend, have a good night,” I may just have gone to the shops and picked something up especially for a polite little girl instead of wearing my own witchy expression and sending them away empty handed.
Now let it not be said that I turn away kids doorknocking to raise funds for their school/club/special cause because this witch goes to special effort to support them by buying a chocolate or two. And that is all about charity for a good cause and not rewarding selfish behaviour.
