Carnival in Milan

We have never been big fans of Halloween. We let our kids dress up and get candy, but we much prefer the safe environment of a church or neighborhood party, as opposed to door to door trick-or-treating, where the costumes/decorations can sometimes be scary. This past Halloween we weren't sad at all to not have any trick-or-treating (Italians don't really celebrate Halloween), but we did miss having an excuse to dress up and show off our cool costumes.

Four months later, in February, the Italians celebrate Carnival. It's a time when the kids (and some adults) get dressed up. There are performances, parties, games, rides and a parade through the center of the city. Carnival lasts for about 3 days, and each city in Italy has their own weekend in which they celebrate it.

I love Carnival so much more than Halloween! Nothing is too scary, and in fact the costumes are very traditional. Lots of clowns, knights, princesses and the occasional superhero. I didn't see any skeletons, zombies, or Britney Spears. Instead of "scary/spooky" being the theme of everything, it was more like "rides/costumes/confetti". It was a blast. The confetti was a highlight too. You can buy a giant bag of loose confetti, then grab a handful and throw it. The week leading up to Carnival weekend, I saw confetti all over the streets of Milan. A lot of people make it a game to throw it at each other.

For Carnival, we all dressed in our Superhero costumes for a few days. We did carnival rides and also watched the parade. It was so much fun, and definitely a memory I will keep for a long time!

The kid's first cotton candy.

A man from the parade throwing confetti and Gabriel.

Enjoying throwing confetti with our friend during the parade.

And here are a couple of fun videos we took while going down the really tall slide ride.