Hardly any StMarten kids showing up this year. One group of seven boys, and a cute little toddler singing a song an hour after that.
So here I am, stuck with too much candy, and some plastic dinosaurs. Chased the paperlady to get her some candy.
I couldn't figure out why you were handing out candy on Veterans Day, until I remembered that it's an actual holiday in Germany. In America, we handed out candy two weeks ago, on Halloween.
It's a weird day. Very locally celebrated or ignored, in quite a few European countries. I like living in a place where it is celebrated again. But, it does not have the excitement it had when the world was still dark after sunset.
Do these children dress up in costume, to scare you in exchange for your candy?
Nah, they sing sweet and silly songs, and walk around with lanterns they made themselves.
As long as they don't burn themselves. At least in a month, you'll get to dress in blackface and throw hard cookies at them.
Do any Dutch holidays not involve giving candy to children? With less than two months between Halloween and the arrival of Sinterklaas, it seems that all of the children should be fat as Americans from eating all of that junk food.
When I was a kid, Easter was more about a huge fire than about chocolate eggs.
Most festivities for kids do come with sweet stuff though. Is it any different in your country?
Although it varies by culture and region, children can generally expect sweets on Easter, Halloween and Christmas (or Hanukkah), plus birthdays and, sometimes, Valentine's Day. Parades may involve tossing sweets to children. We usually don't set huge fires on holidays unless drunk and/or rednecks. A common theme with American children and candy is that the children are typically expected to do a token task in exchange for the candy. For example, on Easter, they have to find it, and on Christmas, they have to be well behaved and hang up their stockings. A party may involve a piñata that children have to beat with sticks. Of course, we have no Kinder eggs in America.