For Engineering junior Nicolas Poirier, yesterday's "A Hauntingly Witchy Houston" marked a special event for the international student from France -- his first time eating a candy apple.
The event, held in Houston Hall and sponsored by the Social Planning and Events Committee's Special Events branch, also provided candy, hot chocolate, hot cider and brownies topped with marshmallow and almonds, made by Fat Witch, a company based in New York.
On top of the array of food, the event also featured a witch raffling off two tickets to last night's Def Comedy Jam, Fat Witch brownies, Fat Witch hot cocoa and one special Fat Witch t-shirt.
Poirier, who wanted to learn more about how Americans celebrate Halloween, said, "Halloween is very famous in America [but] it's not very important in France."
The most popular offering was not the food nor the raffle, but "Decorate Your Own Pumpkin," where students used construction paper, glitter, colored cotton balls and pipe cleaners to decorate mini-pumpkins.
Clarissa Apostol, a 2002 College graduate, chose to make a reindeer pumpkin -- a pumpkin with two brown pipe cleaners attached to the top.
Apostol, dressed as Punky Brewster, came with un-costumed friend Katie Schu, an Environmental Studies graduate student.
"We're all into Halloween this year," Schu said enthusiastically. "We wanted to come for the goodies, relax, not do work."
"I didn't know it was so fun to decorate a pumpkin," said Engineering junior Clotilde Grimault, another French international student discovering Halloween in America.
Other students relaxed in front of a large screen playing Halloween movies such as Practical Magic, The Witches and Witches of Eastwick, which further emphasized the witch theme.
"It's cute," College junior Jenny Yoo said about the Halloween event. "It gives everyone a reason to come out."
College senior Pia Bonura, co-director of the festivities, said everyone "enjoyed the pumpkin decorating and just being festive. It's Halloween, it's fun, it's something festive to do."
Unfortunately, because so many students showed up, all the food and pumpkins were gone an hour before the event was scheduled to end.
"People wanted more, but we didn't have anything left," Bonura said. "[But] it went very well."
