Count Felix

We had our first experience of Hallowe'en this year. Well, I say first, but somewhere in the dusty recesses of my memory, I think I recall a hallowe'en party at Frederick Mansfield's house...I remember it because our Nanny wouldn't let me go back into the house to get my RSVP because we were already late leaving for school. Anyway, I digress.

Hallowe'en is a big deal here, and I've spent the last two weeks telling everyone that it just doesn't exist in the UK, but Facebook evidence is ruining my credibility. It obviously does exist, and looks to be getting bigger and bigger. Maybe the point is that when we were kids, nobody went trick or treating for Hallowe'en (but it was a great excuse to buy some sweets - "just in case"). Actually we also used to buy a pumpkin to carve up sometimes.

We went to two parties - the first at Kiddy Village in Taikoo Shing The boys tried out their costumes - I was terrified that they'd be super lame, but actually they looked great! Amazing what face paints can do. Tayla came dressed as Elmo, and she was absolutely terrified of the boys...whoops. Aiden was a skeleton, Emma and Helene were a cat and a mouse, and Christopher was superman. We had lots of fun.

The second party was at PIPs, the pre school at Parkview (famed for being the location of a dastardly murder - as fictionalised, sorry I mean recorded in Never Enough, which I read faster than any other book in my life) The school's enormous, and we had a little party in the playground at the back. It was a MOMs party, so there were lots of twins there. It was good, but I think it would be infinitely improved by the addition of a few bottles of champagne. I'll record that in my notes for next year!

The weirdest thing about PIPs is that there's a little plastic playhouse in the corner of the playground, which contains a miniature urinal and a miniature toilet. They're real. Plumbed in. Flushing. Cute or bizarre? I was torn. The boys decided that it would be HILARIOUS to pick up stones, and drop them through the window of the little house. I can only assume that by this time the combination of running around, cupcakes, slides, games and too many kids had made them delirious. Ross took a video, I'll try to get hold of it.