Halloween in Sweden – part 1
The new tradition
Last night we went to a pre-Halloween party at our besties house. Their kids had demanded a recall on Halloween when they realised that their terrible parents were whisking them away to dreaded sunny Portugal, and that they would be missing out on all the Swedish cloud-covered shenanigans.
Much like Australia, ‘Halloween’ in Sweden (with pumpkins and lollies) is a recent phenomenon that’s been imported by USA. Nor TSH or myself ever ‘trick-o-treat’ed as children and to be honest, I had to be even google it to work out when it was meant to be.
Whilst living in Sydney, the girls ‘discovered’ Halloween. It was discovered that dressing up + scary things + candy = bulk fun, so now it’s a highlight of their year.
Last night we went over to our friends immaculately decorated, incredibly beautiful house and got our scary on. TSH looked so bad I could hardly look at him all night. I went as the dead car crash victim in the Great Gatsby/or a Dickens novel. I have to say, looking dead took no effort at all. Over the last few months I have truly perfected the haggard look and basically, just roll out of bed every morning looking like this.
Halloween food for young, the old and the dead
I thought the catering was brilliant – simple enough so it meant that the hosts were not caught up in the kitchen all night and tasty enough, so that all participants were delighted.
Round 1 was feeding the tribe of kids. Kid-friendly, no fuss sausages that you can pretty well be assured that every kid will eat. Sugar-reduced tomato sauce, a bit of mustard plus a splash of crispy onions if you please. Happy little skeletons all around.
Round 2 once the kids were out of the way, the older generation could move in. Kid sausages were swapped out of posh sausages and out came the delish sauerkraut and bacon mix, plus a mustard-based creamy dip. The mustard-based creamy dip looked so good, I risked my life to eat it.*
Halloween fun
After dinner, each child was given a mini torch and out into the dark forest we went. They used their torch to find magical sparkling medallions – one each, so it was teamwork that mattered, older kids helping the younger kids, no fighting. The magical sparkling medallion (reflectors) was later swapped out for a bag of loot back at the house. This method of Swedish equitable living worked incredibly well. WELL PLAYED HOSTESS, WELL PLAYED.
Pumpkin pie
The kids were sent downstairs to watch a scary movie and the parents tucked into coffee and a delish pumpkin pie.
I feel that any night that ends up with pumpkin pie, must be a great one. And it was.
Next Friday, there will be trick-o-treating in the village. I’m considering rolling out some sugar-free treats like these, however, I do want to be re-elected to the body corporate next year so may be changing my decision.
*Being highly allergic to some spices, I just love labelling of ingredients that says: distilled vinegar, mustard seeds, water, salt, natural flavours and ‘spices’ – yet fails to list the said ‘spices’. Cayenne pepper you evil bastard, you turn up in everything. But I ate the creamy mustard dip and survived another day.
Handy ideas:
Quick and easy mini pumpkin pecan pies
Bog easy sugar-free Halloween treats
På Svenska:
Sockerfritt Halloween
loulouloves 
Halloween *is* fun, glad us Yanks have infected the likes of Australia and Sweden with it. You look good dead, btw. 🙂
I have to admit, I’m coming round to the idea of it…