Parent Category: Party Shop
What is Halloween?

Pumpkin halloween
Halloween (or Hallowe’en ... but also known as Samhain, Summer’s End, All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints Eve, Snap-Apple etc.) is a holiday that's celebrated annually on the night of October 31 because All Saint's Day is on 1st November. Halloween originated in Ireland, and is celebrated in quite a few countries around the world (Ireland, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden) and is growing in popularity here in South Africa.

It's celebrated in a variety of ways and activities including trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, "haunted house" tours, carving pumpkins (Jack-o'-lanterns), reading or telling scary stories, watching scary movies and so on.

Apple bobbing

There are several traditional games associated with Halloween. One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large barrel of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face.


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