Flashback Friday: Halloween

It is up to us, as the foreign teachers, to host a Halloween Party for the students at our university. This is open to all students, though in particular to the students in our classes. Because of the timing of the ELT team coming to our campus, we ended up being a bit crunched for time planning and executing this fairly substantial endeavor. Fortunately, it went off pretty well and the students really seemed to enjoy themselves!

I'll share some photos to illustrate the experience. Some of them are mine and some of them are photos from my students. Enjoy!


Preparations before the party:

Making paper mache pumpkins. I'd never done paper mache before, but it was really easy and fun. Just flour and water, with strips of newspaper.

We ended up having an "accidental" paper mache flour/water mix fight. It got everywhere, in our hair, on our clothes, all over my floor and furniture. But it was worth it! Though very hard to wash out of our hair once it dried.

One of the big reasons the party was successful was our many many student volunteers. Once we were organized and could delegate tasks, so many students were excited and willing to volunteer to help us gather items, decorate, and prepare for the party. It made the process so much easier. In fact it probably would have been impossible without them.

A few of my Sophomore student volunteers that made decorations.

I made a "cake toss" type game for the party. :)

(Student photo) Rita making a "Pin the Hat on the Witch" game with a couple of my Sophomore students.

(Student photos) Making party decorations and games. All we really told them was to make sure the decorations followed a Halloween theme then let them have at it. They were really creative with the decorations and games. I was really impressed with their artistic abilities! :)

Buying pumpkins as decorations was way more hassle than it was worth. Three of my students had to help me purchase them at different vegetable/fruit sellers then lug them all back to my apartment. We ended up having over 20 pumpkins.

Party time:
We decided to do a carnival type of party with games, candy, a raffle, a dance, etc. The students really seemed to enjoy it, and we hope to have more games next year if we come back. Again, the success was all thanks to our student volunteers who worked at the party to set up, work the different game stations, and tear down afterwards.

(Student photo) Happy Halloween! Our party was held on the outdoor basketball courts. Thankfully the weather was a little warmer than it had been and the rain from the previous day had stopped.

(Student photo) Our front entrance decorations, complete with toilet paper.

(Student photo) Bean bag toss.

(Student photo) Bean bag toss.

(Student photo) Bean bag toss.

(Student photo) Bean bag toss.

(Student photo) "Cake" toss.

Dancing!

(Student photo) Paper mache pumpkin pinatas.

Our costumes: I was Elsa from Frozen, Luke was Sherlock, and Rita was Rosie the Riveter.

 My apologies for all the pictures of me! But I want to show some of my students. :)

(Student photo) Some people dressed up, but not many. Masquerade masks were the common theme however.

(Student photo) Two of my sophomores, Cassie and Cathy (best friends)

Two more sophomores, CeCe and Sarah. Sarah was dressed as "Catwoman", and they had matching Batman symbols on their hands/faces.

One of my favorite freshmen, Estelle. She is a little ball of sass and humor.

(Student photo) One of my sophomores, Abby.

My sophomores are some of the kindest, caring students I've ever met. They always make me smile. :)

Luke as Sherlock.

(Student photo) Luke and I both have the sophomore English majors, so these are also my students.

(Student photo) Rita with one of my students, Miranda.

Rita with a few of my freshmen. My freshmen are so cute.

A bit of fun. :)

As someone who doesn't really celebrate Halloween in the States, it was fun sharing it with others and watching them experience it.

More flashbacks to come next week!