Isla is 17 months old tomorrow, so almost a year and a half, so this is obviously the first time she’s actually been able to get out and Trick or Treat.  That means I’m counting this year as her first Halloween.

We took her outside to take a couple of photos with her matching pumpkins and she was good for a few minutes (with Rice Krispie square incentives), and then she was on the move.  I wanted to take her back inside to warm up before heading down the street but she loves being outside so she just wanted to go.  I put the pumpkins back on the step and my light back inside and caught up with Isla and Robyn walking down the sidewalk.

We tried to go to our next door neighbour’s house but Isla was not having any of it.  It took her 3 attempts to get her to go to someone’s house, and when she finally did they had the perfect treat to get her into the groove.  One of the treats was a small box of Smarties.  Now, we obviously aren’t going to let her eat those right now with so few teeth and the choking hazard they present, but those little boxes make for great rattles.  Isla held boxes of Smarties in her hands the entire time we went around the neighbourhood.

Since we walk our dogs around our block, we know a few people whom we speak with, or at least acknowledge on a regular basis, so we wanted to make sure Isla got to visit all of those houses, probably about 7 or 8, but I think we ended up going to more than double that.  She was just having so much fun, she loves people.  Since Isla can’t say “Trick or Treat” (despite a few close attempts), we were asking her to say hi, and then blow a kiss and say bye when we were done.

Isla actually managed to end up with the majority of her candy being things she can eat, so Robyn and I won’t be able to gorge ourselves on her spoils after all.  2 houses actually gave her books which is awesome.  One of our neighbours had a teal pumpkin which indicated that the house has non food treats, a great help for kids with food allergies who may have felt left out in the past.  I think its something I would like to participate in the future, but I hadn’t heard about it until last night.

As we got home after a great evening, Isla had freezing cold hands and a red nose, but she wanted no part in going back inside.  As a kid who used to run between houses and collect enough candy to last to February (not kidding), I look forward to the days when we can let Isla stay out as long as she would like and we get to see the joy on her face as she swims Scrooge McDuck styles through a mountain of candy.  If we’re lucky, she won’t like Caramilk bars and she’ll let her daddy eat all of those, and Kit Kat bars for her mummy, but if not, I guess I’ll have to be her candy tester and make sure they’re safe ;).

Here are some photos from Isla’s first ‘Real’ Halloween.

Enjoy!!!