I have asked this before, but just wondering how things are going. Just spoke with friends in Germany and they said this year was the biggest Halloween ever - more and more kids knocking on doors, wearing costumes and expecting (and getting) candy - more adult Halloween parties - one shop in Berlin had people standing in line for a city block to get costumes and decorations for Halloween.
Traditionally an “American” thing for the most part, I think Halloween traditions are starting to get more and more popular in other countries and just wondered if you are noticing any changes where you live.
I concur with this - I remember dressing up as a witch/ghost as a little kid, which was back in the 70s. Halloween has always been here, but nowhere on the scale of the US, where costume parties seem compulsory. The shops seem to have more Halloween related merchandise than when I was younger and pumpkins are everywhere, which I don’t recall from my youth.
It’s mainly for kids really. Adults might watch a horror film, perhaps. A few may go to a party. That’s it really. It suffers from being too close to Bonfire Night, which is a bigger deal for kids and adults alike.
Just gone 6pm here in Suffolk, Uk and the door is going every 5 minutes, so yeah pretty popular! I expect it to go on till about 9pm and we usually run out of sweets about then anyways.
Trick or treating has gradually gained in popularity over last 10 years here although a lot of the older folks near to me hate it with a passion and call the police out.
I love it, kids dressing up, happy faces, free sweets, its all good
Halloween is apparently popular in the Mexico City area, and one local coworker described costume parties, trick or treating, and all of the stuff we used to do as kids in the late 70s and early 80s. The local grocery stores have the same cheap costumes we have back home. (And fired-clay jack-o-lanterns are for sale everywhere. They’re awesome. I’m considering whether I’d break it on the way home if I bought one).
I’ve spent multiple Halloweens in Guanajuato and Sonora states, and they’re not quite as active about Halloween as in this area. With all of the emigration from Mexico to Guanajuato, I don’t think it’ll be too long until it’s much more popular there.
It’s becoming less popular here in Sweden. The holiday surged in the nineties and early parts of the aughts, but has been declining noticeably the past five-or-so years.
I remember going to Halloween parties when I was a kid (UK, mid 1970s). Never did trick or treating, but it does seem to be getting more popular - there are a shedload of the wee buggers out there tonight.
I think that might be the same here (a small town in NZ) This is the 4th year in a row that no kids have come to our door. I didn’t buy many lollies (candy) but I have eaten the ones I did.
I’ve just skimmed the headlines of my online paper & there was some trouble with kids’ behaviour in Auckland & I think Halloween parties are still popular with late teens & people in their twenties.
Not popular at all in Italy. When I was growing up in the UK it used to be mildly popular (schools may organise a fancy dress party, for instance). Trick-or-treating was considered begging. Trick-or-treating is still not popular at all where I grew up, though you occasionally will get a few kids knocking on doors.
I’ve lived in the Uk for almost 7 years and this is the first year we’ve had trick or treaters on our street. There are a lot of Americans a few streets over and it’s always been nuts over there. I guess each year it grows a few more streets.
Hubby thinks it’s because of the recession. w00t! Free candy!
I was in Brussels a couple of years ago on Halloween (Bob Dylan was playing that evening) and while there were a small handful of people at the concert in costume, it seemed like it was pretty much a non-event throughout the rest of the city…
My experience seems to be a bit different from other UK Dopers. When I was a kid, Halloween was not celebrated much and was completely overshadowed by Bonfire Night (November 5th). Trick or treating and other Halloween celebrations did catch on, due to American cultural influence and general “festival inflation”, but it seems to me to have plateaued, it’s not getting any bigger. It still has the problem of competing with Nov 5th.
Anyway, I haven’t seen any trick or treaters here (London suburbs) this year or any year. I had heard that parents are less willing to let their kids knock on strangers doors these days?
In my part of Australia, it is less now than a few years ago, but it was never popular. A few years ago we got 4-5 groups of kids. Then none for a few years. This year we got one. They told us we were the only house that had had any lollies, as well, so we gave them big handfuls. Some friends in a different suburb reckon they will get maybe 100 kids.
The $2 shop had some Halloween stuff, and the supermarket had a sign urging us to buy Halloween candy. Other than that, not much going on at all.
Same here. However, what I think is happening in London is that trick or treating is less common, but organised events are much more common. It’s also much more popular for adults than I remember it being when I was a kid; I think every single person I know spent last night in fancy dress, mostly as zombies.
And at least it’s not ‘generic fancy dress’ night over here. Dress up as something evil or creepy!
It’s seems a very much younger demographic who go out here. Most of those who came were 10yo or much younger who go around with their parents while it’s still bright & broad daylight.
We go to the extent of carving our jack-o-lanterns, essentially advertising we were “open for business”.
It was busier this year than previously. Then a storm came over and absolutely belted rain about 5pm which cleared the streets. By the time it started to get dark at 7:30 it was quiet. Any who came around after that were well “treated”. I doubt anybody older than 14 was involved.
If Halloween falls on a school day you can get packs of kids in school uniform demanding lollies from 3:30pm. If they aren’t going to play the the game, I ignore them.
I saw one poor lone child last night, wandering the street. I don’t think he was likely to get any treats. In fact, I was amazed his parents had allowed him to go out at all. There was a thunderstorm in progress and he was wandering around holding a garden fork above his head (part of his costume, I presume). Not a very sensible move with lightning about.
