Last year he was Superman complete with dummy. This year he is Clark Kent. The annual Carnival (or Carnaval in Spain) is underway and the fancy dress (disfraz in Spanish) craze just keeps getting stronger. Hard to believe that it took me 3 shop visits before I found those false glasses frames. Even the specialist party shop didn’t have the right style. There were plenty of wacky extra-large or crazily patterned “glasses” but nothing simple enough for such a subtle fancy dress outfit.

I admit on the one hand that it is a little unimaginative, especially using part of last year’s Superman pyjamas as a key part of the kit. On the other hand it is stylish and he does look cute. And it’s great to compare with last year’s photos… Didn’t Superman get changed in a telephone booth? Still, I suppose, a lift will do.

While in the UK we only ever celebrated the start of Lent with the traditional pancake day (or Shrove Tuesday), in Spain some places have long held a huge carnaval, most notably Cadiz and towns in Cataluña such as Tarragona.

Carnaval is really term used in areas of the world with a predominantly catholic population. And this being Spain they do not need an excuse to party. It is directly related to pre Christian pagan celebrations but conveniently finishes at the start of Lent. Basically now the whole of Spain celebrates the beginning of Lent with carnival parties, some low key with others turning into full blown street carnivals like on the island of Gran Canaria.

For us in Madrid it was limited to Dani’s nursery fancy dress party and a Sunday morning trip to a public park where the local kids (and even many parents) turn out in fancy dress and the local authorities put on a small stage show for the kids.

How did you and your kids celebrate Carnival?

Tomorrow is pancake day of course and I will be making some for our evening meal. We shall see how Dani likes his first taste of pancake day.