Halloween. The holiday I miss the most. The holiday that I refuse to forget. And the holiday that I force on my European friends whether they like it or not! Luckily, it is not as hard as it may seem. Halloween has been making its way to Europe for years, and each year it grows.
Since Skelleftea is so far north (and small perhaps), surprisingly to me it is still catching up. Costumes and decorations are imported from the states, they are expensive, and you have to order them online because no local shops carries them. However, each year it is improving. The children’s store at first only had one small section of Halloween items. This year it doubled to two, oh my!
Pumpkins are also not impossible to get. Before I left for Prague, there was a big box full of big pumpkins ready for carving. A bit too soon for us, but I figured that when I get back, there would still be plenty. Wrong!
On Thursday I went to the store to get pumpkins for carving. Wow, there were not many left. Many were rotten, some had tops broken off, many were small. I was impressed with the fact that Swedes, or someone, purchased all the pumpkins in our local grocery store. Not impressed that this is what I had to choose from. I picked the two largest, non rotting pumpkins and went on my way. Surprisingly, in the store a man asked me where I got the pumpkins. So proof there was at least one Swede looking to carve and not a club of underground Americans who were buying all the pumpkins!
My Swedish friends who came to join in the pumpkin carving had better luck at the, as they call it, Swedish Walmart, or Willie’s, and came with beautiful pumpkins. I was jealous.
But in the end, all of our Jack o Lantern’s turned out fabulously. And I know this year we will have an awesome Swedish Halloween!
Happy Halloween! I just found your blog through http://www.lostinstockholm.com. Those pumpkins look great. Now that I have two little kids I have gone to the basic pumpkin carving. Maybe next year I’ll get ambitious again. Your projects are inspiring!
Thanks so much! I’ve always done the basic pumpkins, but we had a Swedish artist in our mists who wanted to try something cool, so we went with the stencils. Can’t go back now! Next year he wants to do some engraving pumpkins!