A spooky carnival of games, jack-o-lantern shaped pizzas, and scarily-good costumes were on display yesterday afternoon in the Dean’s Commons. Our ESL students dressed their best for the annual Halloween party - a great introduction to a few of America’s most common Halloween traditions.
Students arrived downstairs after classes had finished for the day. Some students entered the costume contest for a chance at winning a prize. Those students each received a number for their classmates to vote on later in the party.
For lunch, students had a variety of pizzas, from cheese to veggie to a pepperoni pizza shaped like a jack-o-lantern (with black olives for eyes). There was plenty of candy and chocolate scattered around each table as well, of course.
After lunch, the ten contestants in the costume contest were called to the front of the room. While there were some very creative costumes this year, there could only be one winner. Classmates and teachers took a few minutes to decide whose costume they liked best and cast their votes.
While the votes were counted, students participated in our selection of carnival games. Before leaving their tables, students each took a stamp card with them. This allowed them to collect stamps for each game (plus extra stamps for winning the game) and turn them in for a chance to win a Halloween-themed prize.
Students needed to play at least one round of Jenga, jack stack, cornhole, eyeball ping pong, and witch hat ring toss to fill out their stamp cards. They also had to take a photo at the photo booth for the final stamp. As students began to turn in their cards, their names were added to the prize wheel for spins at the end of the party.
After a round of carnival games, students return to their seats to hear the costume contest winner announcement. One of the contestants, who was wearing a colorful clown costume, took home the grand prize!
Next, the spinning prize wheel randomly chose three winners for participating in the carnival games. Each student took home a Halloween themed tote bag with prizes like a throw blanket, a scented candle, and crocheting kits. There was also plenty of candy left over and goody bags, so nobody left the party empty-handed!
Thank you for reading this entry in our blog. Stay tuned here and on our social media pages for more stories coming in November and December.
By Hadrian Barbosa