Happy Halloween, Everyone! It's that day of the year where I try really hard to not go overboard with the sweets and chocolates because I know Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday are right around the corner. 

Fortunately, it was really easy this year to curb my cravings because I was busy planning my daughter's first real Halloween! Last year, she was only two months old on Halloween, and therefore, we didn't do much of anything. This year, however, to celebrate her being able to walk, we decided to do a mock trick-or-treating and walk around the neighborhood in our costumes!

Halloween is still a relatively new holiday here in Japan. It is not widely celebrated, and outside of the child and young adult scene, Halloween mostly consists of just decorations. This year, I wanted to make Halloween as American as possible for my daughter despite being in Japan and the looming pandemic. 

So, stay tuned to see how I brought Halloween to our tiny apartment in Yokohama!

Our Halloween actually started two weeks prior with me buying a pumpkin. It's really hard to find a pumpkin of Halloween size here in Japan, but we lucked out with a flower shop across the street selling really nice big ones. They were a bit pricey at 2,000 yen a pumpkin, but they said we could get one specially ordered next year if we wanted a bigger one, etc.

After buying the pumpkin, that we weekend we carved it. My husband and I opened it while my daughter was asleep, and she helped scoop out the insides when she woke up. She loved the shiny, metal spoon more than the actual pumpkin, but she had so much fun, and I knew that was enough Halloween festivities for one day. The next day, I carved a face and we put an actual candle inside and watched our jack-o-lantern come to life!

If you've read my Quarantine Birthday Post, you know I got festive with invitations! So, I made Halloween invitations and agendas so that everything felt a bit more official. My daughter gets overstimulated really easily because she's such an active and curious baby, so time schedules are really useful, unless we don't mind the occasional meltdown!

We eagerly waited for the following weekend. Since my husband is Japanese, I also spent some time watching classic Halloween themed movies with him, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, and we also bought a virtual tour through the HIS travel agency, which live streamed special Halloween events from America, including the 2021 New York City Halloween Parade. He was really shocked at just how much we put into our Halloween!

On the morning of Halloween, we took our daughter out in her costume and let her walk the bike trail. We bought a penguin cloak to commemorate her new gait! She loved waddling around, and she got a few "kawaii"'s from the locals and of course my family on live stream.

Afterwards, I ran ahead on the way home to greet her at the door as my husband said, "trick-or-treat"! She didn't understand why she was getting goodies in her bag, but she got the hang of it the second time around when my husband opened the door. We let her run the hallway in front of our apartment, and she then kept stopping at every door, including the fire extinguisher, waiting for goodies! Unfortunately, you won't find the trick-or-treating aspect here in Japan, and especially now with COVID, but I hope one day I can arrange a trick-or-treating route with the locals some years from now.

A wreath I made from 100 yen items!

She loved digging around in her bag for her loot, especially the homemade origami made by my friend's daughter! I've never seen an origami bat before!

Needless to say, she was all worn out after the festivities and took a nice long nap. We ended Halloween with the roasting of pumpkin seeds and a snuggle on the couch as she ate some snacks!

I can't wait for Neutral November. I'm all worn out myself!