Halloween for Little Munsters!

All year long the kids at Baan Unrak have been bugging me to make Halloween for them...seriously, I think they started asking me last April! There was a volunteer once, many years ago, who arranged for a Halloween themed party in the home (music, dancing, decorations around the home and a costume competition) and the kids absolutely loved experiencing a holiday (nowadays at least) dedicated to candy and ghouls. I decided to up the experience for our kids this year, and create a trick or treating event in our community, "Halloween for Little Munsters!"

I opened the event to all kids in the community, ages 5-12 years old, and recruited volunteers to open their homes for the trick or treating event. There were 5 stations, 65+ kids expected, and more than 20 volunteers from the community who participated in the fun. The volunteers were a mix: from Baan Unrak, from teachers at the government school, from volunteers at the animal sanctuary, and visiting guests from Bangkok. I did a quick fundraising call on my Facebook account, and within 24 hours I was able to raise enough money to buy all the materials necessary for the event: candy (enough for 70 kids); home made costume materials (scissors, glue, garbage bags, glitter, face paints, etc); decorations for the participating homes and fruits/melons to be carved as jack-o-lanterns. 

The 5 stations were themed appropriately for Halloween: 

• Kru Sai and Charlie's Fairyland was a magical land of music (xylophones) and sweet sticky rice treats
• Naomi's house was a games station, where kids had to complete challenges (like pin the spider on the web) before they could snatch the candy booty
• The bakery was converted into a haunted cemetery  where bodies rose from their graves, ghosts popped out of dark hiding spaces and fireworks were thrown at our feet to stop the heart! (Our teenagers were responsible for this station, and they were TOO good at scaring our smallest children!) 
• The Baan Unrak volunteer house was converted into a thriller house, where the kids were chased in thedark by monsters before they could find their candy
• The Baan Unrak school became an evil hospital, where open surgery was performed on live patients and the kids had to drink their sweet blood

It was above, and BEYOND what I had imagined...the volunteers who helped out r eally deserve all the credit for their imagination and creativity. On such a tight budget, they were able to create a night these kids will never forget, the night of all haunted nights in Sangkhlaburi!

Happy Halloween!!!!