Isara Halloween Party

Happy Halloween, everyone!

(I have this thing for jumping pictures and p.s. I'm a pirate)

Yesterday, we had a spectacular turn-out with our Halloween party here at Isara! I'm sure if I were home right now, I'd be in a weird costume that I'd probably paid too much for, dreading for my liver's life and spending it with friends in some unknown party or club event in the company of washed-out costumes (with the exception of some creative ones!) composed of naughty ____s (take your pic: nurse, school girl, Disney princesses, etc). This year's is different.

Earlier in the week we came together to begin our party planning with our committee: Lara, Ming, Bell, Party, Kirk and I. We discussed decoration ideas, food and drink selections, prize giveaways, room organization and several activities that the kids would enjoy participating in. I'm always enthusiastic about planning events that bring people together to have a good time. Witnessing people have a great time will never tire me... especially when it's kids. The planning involved takes me back to high school days in leadership. This was completely different from the leadership events that required cumbersome work and stress, but witnessing the planning unravel into a memorable event that could be reflected upon years later always was something well worth the effort.

Party cutting out ghosts with a friend patiently waiting behind her... muahaha.

We began making decorations a day ahead by making any possible Halloween-like image come to life via construction paper, fishing line, plastic bags, markers and crayons, tape and our remarkable creativity (... more so Bell's!). Bell is a fantastic artist, lemme tell you. Majority of the decorations were under his supervision and vision. As the hours progressed, so did the stacks of decorations. Cut-out bats and pumpkins, Halloween signs and popular Halloween figures like Frankenstein, the Grim Reaper and Dracula covered our walls with their ghoulish spirit.


We built up the anticipation for our party since it was supposed to start at 4 pm by closing all doors of our multi-purpose room. They sensed the Halloween spirit as they watched us set up outside while they peeked through the windows, giggling in excitement. I just remember that feeling as a kid, feeling so ecstatic for a class party no matter how small or big the occasion or holiday was.

As the doors opened, the kids started populating the empty room, appropriately filled with food, drinks, candy [I don't know what this holiday would mean without it!], and awesome decoration. I could tell they were somewhat confused as to what exactly Halloween was even though we created a lesson earlier in the week describing the history and tradition of this spooky, Western holiday. We introduced key words that describe the holiday like "candy", "jack'o lantern', "costumes" and such. We even made sure they knew how to say "trick or treat" by having them say it with enthusiasm during class and even before they left.

The party animals!

More kiddies

Yok, the Naruto puppy girl.

We had so much lined up for these children to experience! Lara and I had a Face Painting booth set up where we let our artistic side shine through recreations of cats, dogs, zombies, jack 'o lanterns on smooth faces as our canvases. It was so much fun. We often found these moments hilarious because we felt like some of the kids absolutely hated the paintings on their faces or laughed about how we didn't even know how to paint a dog, or a cat on them as requested. It was definitely plausible and in the end, the kids seemed to get a kick out of their cool painted mask.

See what I mean! I'm sure Earth really loves it.
Kirk says Thai kids aren't supposed to smile in photos... or is this just honest expression?

Jame wanted to be a koala, but due to his profuse sweating,
it was barely visible by the end of the night.

Alright, who remembers Jonathan the Zombie?
Poom (with the cape) reminds me of him

Hours later, we were still painting long lines of children's faces. It was tiring, but I really enjoyed it. One by one, our party started to exude even more Halloween spirit. It was great. While Lara and I painted faces, the rest of our planning committee entertained the kids with Monsters Inc. playing on the projector and after, began a friendly contest of pumpkin carving. Oops, I meant squash carving (yeah, see... they don't grow them here). The carving was a success. I was thoroughly impressed with their effort! I didn't even think it was possible to make a squash into a jack 'o lantern, really. The kids were awarded with a certificate, button, and candy. Kids seem to enjoy receiving certificates, gives them something to be proud of no matter how small the achievement is. We should always take time to celebrate these small victories.

Squash o' Lanterns?

Musical chairs was also on the list of activities to play. I found myself participating as well... and I won! Wahoooooooo. I feel like Kirk rigged it though, when he fittingly stopped the song "I got a feeling" at the exact moment I approached the chair. I won some sort of rice crispy treat thing. Thanks, Kirk. Lol.

Watch Boom do something funny

After musical chairs, the sun already set and it became dark. The little cats, dogs, zombies, pumpkins and misc. costumes circled up together to hear scary stories. Lara and I didn't understand any of what Bell or Ming was saying since all the stories were in Thai, but by the look of the kids' faces, they were in utter terror. Some of them gasped loudly, while others closed up their ears by pressing their palms firmly against them and asked if 'is this a true story?'. The reactions to the climax of their stories made me laugh because I could just see myself in these children... even now, being scared of ghost stories and finding ways to dodge scary moments, but secretly wanting to know what happens next.


To lighten up the evening, we played some music for the kids and had ourselves a little dance party! During those 2 hours of dancing, I felt so youthful. It reminded me of dancing at weddings with my little cousins in a circle and watching someone do impressive moves in the middle and laughing or cheering them on.

I was surprised to see this little one perform some interpretive moves.
The music is definitely in his heart. Can't stop, won't stop.

We waited till all the kids got picked up by their parents and entertained them with more dancing, candy distribution and various youtube videos. The parents could see that it was a special night for them because they offered to wait for them once they were ready to leave. That was a sure sign that the night was a success! The preparation for this party was no sweat at all and it was shown through our teamwork and in result the smiles on the children's faces. After spending such an awesome Halloween, I'm sure the next few years will be a challenge to compete with this one.

...again, Happy Halloween, everyone! Hope you've enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

Photos from the party