This month is Halloween month, so I decided to invite my au pairs for pumpkin carving. Au pairs were very creative in making designs for their pumpkins and had a good time together.
We also enjoyed yummy Halloween food:
For more photos, go to Halloween 2016
In October, this witch invited her au pairs to a Halloween gathering at her house. Unfortunately, all of her au pairs had not gone costume shopping yet. 🙁 We still had a good time, though.
Au pairs enjoyed Halloween foods and drinks as well as each other’s company. We welcomed Nike and Lena to our cluster and said good-bye to Fernanda, who will go back to Brazil. For more photos go to Halloween.
In October, we got together at my house for some pumpkin carving and Halloween treats. It is a nice cultural experience as Halloween is not celebrated in all countries. Some au pairs had fun fun dressing up. We had a chance to welcome Soraya to our cluster and say good-bye to Bee and Asia who are going home in November.
For more photos go to October 2014
Halloween is a wonderful holiday, but because of increased foot traffic and that Trick-or-Treaters are out at night, the potential for automobile related accidents with young pedestrians increases four times on this night according to a CDC (Center for Disease Control) study.
In many areas, people drive their kids into subdivisions and let them out to walk from house to house. Usually the parent follows behind in the car. This can cause traffic jams in small areas and much confusion as kids dart between cars on the streets going from house to house. A driver is already distracted because they are trying to keep an eye on their own kids and usually aren’t paying attention to much else.
Children and adults tend to be preoccupied and may not pay as much attention to safety as they should. They may not see your vehicle or just assume that you see them automatically. Stay on the defensive and you shouldn’t have a problem while driving on Halloween night
* Don’t use a cell phone or other electronic device while driving on Halloween night. You shouldn’t be doing this anyway, the rate of cell phone related auto accidents has jumped dramatically since the use of cell phones and texting has risen so high. Some states have already made laws concerning this and others are working on it.
Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars. Left them know if they carry a flash light to never shine itin the eyes of a driver. This can cause blindness on the drivers part temporarily and they may not see your child
Ah, what a nice day we had on Sunday to be outside for pumpkin carving! As you can see above, my au pairs were very creative in carving patterns into their pumpkins. While they carved, they happily chatted about their lives and seemed to enjoy each other’s company.
Most au pairs know about Halloween but do not celebrate it in their countries. They are usually very excited to experience this American holiday and at Au Pair in America we promote this kind of cultural exchange. On Sunday they got the Halloween treatment which included a noise-sensitive howling ghost, bats, spiders, snakes, cockroaches as well as food offerings that might creep the faint at heart out: a witches brew that contained a bloody hand, bloody (hot dog) fingers, crawling cracker/pretzel stick critters, chicken eyeballs, bat wings, as well as Halloween cut out cookies and a creepy critter cake.
We said good-bye to Adisah and Emma who are leaving us in November. They received their education certificate, a small good-bye gift and an acknowledgement for their achievements. They shared their experience with and gave advice to the other au pairs. We welcomed Juliette, Alice, and Natalie whose first meeting this was.
For more photos of our meeting please visit Pumpkin Carving.
Halloween Season is here. Check out APIA’s Pinterest on http://pinterest.com/aupairinamerica/halloween-fall/
This week, my au pairs came to my house for a pumpkin carving party. We enjoyed pumpkin puff pastry, pumpkin tortilla roll-ups, devilish eggs, bloody (hot dog) fingers, fall-shaped cookies, apple crisp, Halloween candy and a cider punch.
Au pairs had a great time socializing and inspiring each other while carving their pumpkins.
This was a very creative group of au 
pairs, as you can see from the pumpkin line-up:
At the meeting, the new au pairs had a chance to be welcomed by the others and make connections. We also said good-bye to Siu from Malaysia who ends her extension year next month. She was able to share her experience with some of the newer au pairs.
Au pairs had great conversations around the table about their au pair experience and about the existence or non-existence of Halloween in their country.
For more photos from this meeting, please go to Pumpkin Carving.
Cultural exchange is a big aspect of the Au Pair in America program; so are the monthly au pair meetings that are organized by the local community counselors. In October, counselors Bettina Velona and Ute Smith threw a Halloween party for their au pairs. About 40 au pairs attended and seemed to have a grand old time. Some of them even played “catch the gummy worm” and had lots of fun doing so. Check out the photos at Bettina’s Cluster Photo Album
