1/5 Volkswijk ready for Halloween
It will still take almost two weeks, but in the Ahornstraat in Breda people are already doing DIY for Halloween every day. Because the residents of the working-class district of Tuinzigt are going extra big this year. No fewer than 330 children will come to celebrate the horror party in their street on Friday evening, October 27. 65 extras and 150 kilos of sweets will ensure that they do not lack anything.
6-year-old Giano doesn’t have time to talk. With optimal concentration, the boy hammers a nail into a large cross to which he attaches a skeleton. Absolutely everyone in Ahornstraat is helping to make it a special Halloween this year.
“When you see what people do and how they help each other, it’s really great,” says Christiaan de Leij. He himself is assembling a plastic crow on a ghost ship about six meters high on his doorstep.
“We shouldn’t scare the little ones too much.”
Yes, the residents of Ahornstraat are going all out this year. “We are working on a horror tour for children throughout our street,” says John de Leij, father and neighbor of Christiaan.
“Everyone makes something with their own theme in front of their door. My son is working on a ghost ship across the street and the house next door has been transformed into a church. Complete with an altar, because a horror wedding will soon take place here. I have made a witch house myself and my neighbor is building a scary cowboy village. This is not all, because they are busy everywhere in the street. There is much more to come!”
It will be quite an experience for the children who will soon come to Ahornstraat all dressed up. “For example, there will also be a monastery with nuns and an insane asylum,” adds neighbor Chantal Plasman. “We have sixty-five extras and actors putting on an act.”
“Halloween is officially on October 31st, but we celebrate it on Friday evening the 27th,” she continues. “That’s better, because after the horror tour there is also a Halloween disco for the youth in the community center. Everything for the kids!”
“We can only buy nails and screws from the municipal subsidy and not sweets.”
Everyone in the street has their own task in the preparation. While John hangs up a luminous witch’s pan with spiders and the neighbor is busy sawing, Chantal arranges the inevitable sweets. “We receive a subsidy from the municipality, but we are only allowed to buy nails and screws. Fortunately, people are already arriving with whole bags full of candy. Of course there will soon also be apples and tangerines, but candy is simply part of Halloween.”
And not too little either, as neighbor John calculates. “Just limit it to almost half a kilo of candy per child,” he says, laughing, “so that brings you to one hundred and fifty kilos of candy.”
Everything should be ready in two weeks. “The children have a lot of fun,” John concludes. “Although we have to be careful not to scare the little ones too much. But if I don’t show myself that evening, I’ll be fine, haha!”