The first time I ever celebrated Halloween was in 2018 when I first became a Technology teacher. It’s not a popular holiday where I live and very few people do anything special on the 31 October. This was the year I started working at a wonderful private international school with a lot of foreigners, both colleagues and students. The school celebrated every holiday possible, including Halloween. The kids were extremely excited and a lot of fun activities and games were planned for that day. The students had lessons until lunch time, they had lunch and then they had a free afternoon, the lessons were canceled, and the school turned into a huge Halloween theme park.

The teachers were all dressed up, including me. I was a witch 🤭 I had an old black dress of mine, big jewelry, intense makeup and a typical witch hat from the carnival store. I was unsure of what to expect, since I had never done this holiday before, but I was (surprisingly) amazed by all of the energy of everyone, the creativity of my colleagues, and the fun we had. I had a blast! It was the day I decided to start celebrating Halloween from then on.

We had different activities and games organized. One of them was a brave teacher in a cardboard pillory. The students could soak a kitchen sponge in water and then throw the sponge at the teacher. It was belly laughs all the time for this game! We also had a contest for who can wrap a friend in toilet paper the fastest, turning them into a mummy. We had a cinema room where we played creepy kids videos, we had different healthy treats for the kids, and many other cool things. The day ended with a “Best costume” contest for the students. I was in the judge committee and we selected a couple of students to receive awards.

It was a magical day that I will never forget. This day broadened my horizons, showed me that there are many new things that I can try and enjoy, and brought me closer to the students (because all of them loved my costume).