What was left after leaving it out for trick or treaters. Exactly one candy was taken, and I suspect by my housemate who felt bad for me. There's many families with kids in the housing complex we live. I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
Went through 5 huge bags of Haribo here last night!!! Had to blow out the lantern and switch the doorbell off by 8.30pm.There must’ve been at least 200 children out and about. I live in a dorf on the outskirts of Basel.
Did you have a lit pumpkin outside? That’s usually the sign that they can ring the bell/collect some treats?
Was your house decorated? Alot of people will leave the candy out next to the pumpkin. It’s still scary for kids to ring bells of houses they don’t know.
I think you are mistaken. People start doing it with kids. But it’s very much not in our culture to take something without asking. I guess it was not clear that this mean they can take it.
My neighbour are kot celebrating halloween due to christian believes but wanted to contribute to kids fun. So they put a bag with a clear sign: please help yourself. It is not something that is widespread but kids and parents are doing it for fun but wouldn’t take candies if there is no sign or a person playing along.
>I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
It was tried by the vendors.
It didn’t catch on. One can even say it failed miserably.
I for one don’t regret that outcome 😉
Otoh: in the US, Halloween delays the XMas hype. Here they begin already Mid September to decorate XMasly.
I live in a smaller town in BL and there were tons of kids trick or treating! I even had to run to the store to get some emergency knock off candies. Two apartments down, the neighbor went all out with decorating their lawn and that was the kids’ (25-30 in total) hangout spot with all the parents/chaperones. As an American, it makes me very happy that trick or treating is a thing here.
Trick or treating is huge in my neighborhood. But people leave out decorations in front of their door to indicate that they are participating. Hordes of kids here run to every decorated door and scream “süßes oder saures!”
Depends where you live. I am in geneva and go trick and treating with my son every year. We encountered at least 100s kids yesterday doing the same. If there is a code to access your building and/or if you didnt decroate your door, kids wont ring.
In our village we had many kids doing rounds, but we tell them to only approach houses that have halloween lights outside (lit pumpkin or more), so they don’t disturb people who don’t want to participate. Maybe it was simply not visible enough?
Maybe also depend on where you live exactly.
I live in Zürich Affoltern. I saw a lot of dressed up kids with their parents. It was kinda cute and funny. If the kids are enjoying it, then why not they should not do it? 🤷🏻♂️
The only problem was the trash on the streets in Oerlikon this morning.
It depends. Two years ago some kids showed up and we had nothing, I told them to come by for the Escalade (Geneva holiday) but they didn’t so last year I had some candy ready for Halloween. Nobody came by.
This year I told the kids in the building I would have candy and they came by, so did several kids I didn’t know, maybe through word of mouth or because it was more popular this year. All the candy was taken eventually.
#we all living in americaaaa
housing complex
There’s your answer, I have never gotten my doorbell rung since moving into a bigger complex. Like how does it even work, you let them in the building and they ring on every door individually?
But also yes, as far as I can tell it isn’t that widespread here.
We went yesterday! The is a street in Zurich that takes it to the next level! Full installations. Scary stuff. Entire houses decorated garden to roof. Plenty of sweets. Free hotdogs and drinks. To be fair, a few Americans live there and probably started it. But it’s pretty fun with the kids.
The rule is that we ring the bell only if there is a light outside. Like a candle or a pumpkin. Not everybody wants to participate.
Loved it! I must say I am not too fond of the particular event as I have no cultural links to it but as many have said here, if kids enjoy it why not? 🙂 Thought I had bought too many candies but they were all gone already at 20! Also, this year our daughter was old enough to go trick or treating herself. I was delighted to meet, even for a few minutes, my neighbors. Also, a highlight for me was when we rang the bell of a swiss grandpa who was absolutely lovely with our daughter 😍 CH needs more people like this gentleman 🙂
This is America?
>I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
NOPE thanks, we’re good….
You had to leave a sticker at the doorbell if you are in a building or a lantern if you are in a single house. If you didn’t advertise, the kids won’t pass by.
Depends, varies village to village. I get tons of kids.
American defaultism?
We had like 20 kids in total coming by.
We had a few kids ring yesterday.
But we had nothing and it kinda broke my heart.
Next year I’ll at lust put up my platipus-onesie and prepare some really cool candies (maybe some japanese ones).
Make sure to put a pumpkin out and a note on the right doorbell to ring if you want trick or treaters next year.
I’m always amazed people in other countries don’t support US and A‘s festivities. How dare they?? Not 100% of the population celebrated such an important event like Halloween? Incredible. What’s next? People in Switzerland not celebrating the 4th of July???
Ufhöre mit dem seich!
I recently moved to a small 400 people village, a few kilometers away from my old village (~3000), in my new village there were quite some people last year but none this year, in my old village however everyone goes crazy… Seems like it just depends on the place the most, since im assuming there are alot of people where you live
They do but trick or treating is a density game. If no one else is your building is giving out candy, no one will trick or treat there. Even in America and Canada, some neighborhoods just don’t have enough houses with people giving out candy to make it worth going there. This is more challenging in Switzerland and so usually you find one neighborhood with a critical mass of houses participating. We drove 15 minutes across town to go to a place we knew was good. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem. The demand (kids in costumes) is clearly there. But the supply (people with candy advertising that they will entertain trick or treaters) requires a certain degree of neighborhood organization.
But good for you! Keep doing it and others will follow.
Also, I find that many Swiss are under the misconception that Halloween is a commercial holiday, or some kind of American invasion, and so is somehow distasteful. I find that it’s one of the most fun and creative holidays on the calendar, with more opportunities for imagination and creativity than any other. It is also a holiday with 2,000 years of history, including going back to the Helvetii, who were a Celtic people and celebrated a version of Somhain, which became Halloween. The Swiss have similar traditions like Carnival in Basel and Lucerne or Escalade in Geneva. Halloween is complimentary, not competitive, with these traditions. And it’s fun!
We stopped doing it after two years when : Some teenagers complained about what we gave them Some teenagers phoned their “friends” to come collect and these people were aggressive when we told them we had nothing left : blocking me to close the door ffs. Some teenagers were literally ambushing people to rush in the complex. None who visited us were dressed up. Not a single kid visited our complex.
And yesterday when I came back home at 8pm, I haven’t seen a single teenager dressed up but 30% of them had a bag with candies.
While I dislike Halloween, I don’t mind to play the game for kids, but the entitled teenagers fucktards ruined it for everyone.
Was my first time here in Wollishofen, Zurich. A lot of kids on the streets, the little ones with their parents. I didn’t know how it works here but one mother introduced us to the signs and she knew some teachers who often do some horror stuff. And yes most of the people participating had some sort of sign or Installation in front of the door.
Ït depending on the village/city or even district. In our village, there was absolutely nothing going on. In the next village, even though smaller, i saw a lot of kids and parents on the streets.
I live in Aarburg (no expat community here to speak of!) we had one group of kids over the whole night, last year was about six or seven groups and the year before three or four. So now we have to eat allllll this left over chocolate by ourselves. 🙃
It’s a hit or miss where I live. One year, there are no kids or just a few; the next year, I don’t have enough candy to give out. This year, not a single one came.
I live in the city of Neuchâtel in an apartment building. I knew no one would ring my bell, so I went out wandering the streets and accosting small children with my bowl of candy, yelling “Happy Halloween!!” at them 😅
One little girl spoke neither French nor English and she just thought I was showing her my candy, so she showed me her candy too, haha
> I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
It’s almost as if it was a different country
I came by but ppl where to scared of my costume so i got no candy (i dressed like a tax collector)
One group of kids came by yesterday, I had nothing to give them, I gave them a pack of dried bananas. I felt so bad and emberassed.
luckely this stupid thing just got to a few very regional Quartier.
No one does do trick or does.
We have Räbeliechtli Umzug. This is enough for us.
38 comments
Went through 5 huge bags of Haribo here last night!!! Had to blow out the lantern and switch the doorbell off by 8.30pm.There must’ve been at least 200 children out and about. I live in a dorf on the outskirts of Basel.
Did you have a lit pumpkin outside? That’s usually the sign that they can ring the bell/collect some treats?
Was your house decorated? Alot of people will leave the candy out next to the pumpkin. It’s still scary for kids to ring bells of houses they don’t know.
I think you are mistaken. People start doing it with kids. But it’s very much not in our culture to take something without asking. I guess it was not clear that this mean they can take it.
My neighbour are kot celebrating halloween due to christian believes but wanted to contribute to kids fun. So they put a bag with a clear sign: please help yourself.
It is not something that is widespread but kids and parents are doing it for fun but wouldn’t take candies if there is no sign or a person playing along.
>I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
It was tried by the vendors.
It didn’t catch on. One can even say it failed miserably.
I for one don’t regret that outcome 😉
Otoh: in the US, Halloween delays the XMas hype. Here they begin already Mid September to decorate XMasly.
I live in a smaller town in BL and there were tons of kids trick or treating! I even had to run to the store to get some emergency knock off candies. Two apartments down, the neighbor went all out with decorating their lawn and that was the kids’ (25-30 in total) hangout spot with all the parents/chaperones. As an American, it makes me very happy that trick or treating is a thing here.
Trick or treating is huge in my neighborhood. But people leave out decorations in front of their door to indicate that they are participating. Hordes of kids here run to every decorated door and scream “süßes oder saures!”
Depends where you live. I am in geneva and go trick and treating with my son every year. We encountered at least 100s kids yesterday doing the same. If there is a code to access your building and/or if you didnt decroate your door, kids wont ring.
In our village we had many kids doing rounds, but we tell them to only approach houses that have halloween lights outside (lit pumpkin or more), so they don’t disturb people who don’t want to participate. Maybe it was simply not visible enough?
Maybe also depend on where you live exactly.
I live in Zürich Affoltern. I saw a lot of dressed up kids with their parents. It was kinda cute and funny. If the kids are enjoying it, then why not they should not do it? 🤷🏻♂️
The only problem was the trash on the streets in Oerlikon this morning.
It depends. Two years ago some kids showed up and we had nothing, I told them to come by for the Escalade (Geneva holiday) but they didn’t so last year I had some candy ready for Halloween. Nobody came by.
This year I told the kids in the building I would have candy and they came by, so did several kids I didn’t know, maybe through word of mouth or because it was more popular this year. All the candy was taken eventually.
#we all living in americaaaa
housing complex
There’s your answer, I have never gotten my doorbell rung since moving into a bigger complex. Like how does it even work, you let them in the building and they ring on every door individually?
But also yes, as far as I can tell it isn’t that widespread here.
We went yesterday! The is a street in Zurich that takes it to the next level! Full installations. Scary stuff. Entire houses decorated garden to roof. Plenty of sweets. Free hotdogs and drinks. To be fair, a few Americans live there and probably started it. But it’s pretty fun with the kids.
The rule is that we ring the bell only if there is a light outside. Like a candle or a pumpkin. Not everybody wants to participate.
Loved it! I must say I am not too fond of the particular event as I have no cultural links to it but as many have said here, if kids enjoy it why not? 🙂
Thought I had bought too many candies but they were all gone already at 20!
Also, this year our daughter was old enough to go trick or treating herself. I was delighted to meet, even for a few minutes, my neighbors. Also, a highlight for me was when we rang the bell of a swiss grandpa who was absolutely lovely with our daughter 😍
CH needs more people like this gentleman 🙂
This is America?
>I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
NOPE thanks, we’re good….
You had to leave a sticker at the doorbell if you are in a building or a lantern if you are in a single house. If you didn’t advertise, the kids won’t pass by.
Depends, varies village to village. I get tons of kids.
American defaultism?
We had like 20 kids in total coming by.
We had a few kids ring yesterday.
But we had nothing and it kinda broke my heart.
Next year I’ll at lust put up my platipus-onesie and prepare some really cool candies (maybe some japanese ones).
Make sure to put a pumpkin out and a note on the right doorbell to ring if you want trick or treaters next year.
I’m always amazed people in other countries don’t support US and A‘s festivities. How dare they?? Not 100% of the population celebrated such an important event like Halloween? Incredible. What’s next? People in Switzerland not celebrating the 4th of July???
Ufhöre mit dem seich!
I recently moved to a small 400 people village, a few kilometers away from my old village (~3000), in my new village there were quite some people last year but none this year, in my old village however everyone goes crazy…
Seems like it just depends on the place the most, since im assuming there are alot of people where you live
They do but trick or treating is a density game. If no one else is your building is giving out candy, no one will trick or treat there. Even in America and Canada, some neighborhoods just don’t have enough houses with people giving out candy to make it worth going there. This is more challenging in Switzerland and so usually you find one neighborhood with a critical mass of houses participating. We drove 15 minutes across town to go to a place we knew was good. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem. The demand (kids in costumes) is clearly there. But the supply (people with candy advertising that they will entertain trick or treaters) requires a certain degree of neighborhood organization.
But good for you! Keep doing it and others will follow.
Also, I find that many Swiss are under the misconception that Halloween is a commercial holiday, or some kind of American invasion, and so is somehow distasteful. I find that it’s one of the most fun and creative holidays on the calendar, with more opportunities for imagination and creativity than any other. It is also a holiday with 2,000 years of history, including going back to the Helvetii, who were a Celtic people and celebrated a version of Somhain, which became Halloween. The Swiss have similar traditions like Carnival in Basel and Lucerne or Escalade in Geneva. Halloween is complimentary, not competitive, with these traditions. And it’s fun!
We stopped doing it after two years when :
Some teenagers complained about what we gave them
Some teenagers phoned their “friends” to come collect and these people were aggressive when we told them we had nothing left : blocking me to close the door ffs.
Some teenagers were literally ambushing people to rush in the complex.
None who visited us were dressed up.
Not a single kid visited our complex.
And yesterday when I came back home at 8pm, I haven’t seen a single teenager dressed up but 30% of them had a bag with candies.
While I dislike Halloween, I don’t mind to play the game for kids, but the entitled teenagers fucktards ruined it for everyone.
Was my first time here in Wollishofen, Zurich. A lot of kids on the streets, the little ones with their parents. I didn’t know how it works here but one mother introduced us to the signs and she knew some teachers who often do some horror stuff. And yes most of the people participating had some sort of sign or Installation in front of the door.
Ït depending on the village/city or even district. In our village, there was absolutely nothing going on. In the next village, even though smaller, i saw a lot of kids and parents on the streets.
I live in Aarburg (no expat community here to speak of!) we had one group of kids over the whole night, last year was about six or seven groups and the year before three or four.
So now we have to eat allllll this left over chocolate by ourselves. 🙃
It’s a hit or miss where I live. One year, there are no kids or just a few; the next year, I don’t have enough candy to give out. This year, not a single one came.
I live in the city of Neuchâtel in an apartment building. I knew no one would ring my bell, so I went out wandering the streets and accosting small children with my bowl of candy, yelling “Happy Halloween!!” at them 😅
One little girl spoke neither French nor English and she just thought I was showing her my candy, so she showed me her candy too, haha
> I think I misjudged the Americanness off swiss culture.
It’s almost as if it was a different country
I came by but ppl where to scared of my costume so i got no candy (i dressed like a tax collector)
One group of kids came by yesterday, I had nothing to give them, I gave them a pack of dried bananas. I felt so bad and emberassed.
luckely this stupid thing just got to a few very regional Quartier.
No one does do trick or does.
We have Räbeliechtli Umzug. This is enough for us.
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