Halloween In Switzerland

Well, we just finished celebrating our first Halloween in Switzerland...and as expected it was very different from what we're used to.  

Over the past few weeks we decorated our apartment, but it was a little tricky because we only brought a fraction of our decorations.  So the kids pitched in and drew several Halloween drawings that we displayed around the house.  We also made a "Halloween Gingerbread House," which the kids really got into.  We also had a few surprises by mail.  Jenny's brother's family mailed us a "Halloween Care Package" filled with Halloween treats and goodies.  We also received a Halloween care box from our friends the Manchesters in Midland, and we even received one from Ben's Cub Scout den.  It was nice to know we had so many friends and family thinking of us.  

Last Sunday night there was a "trunk-or-treat" event up at the kids' school.  So we got our car ready, got the kids ready, and we were all set to go up to the school to hand out candy.  Then we learned the event was canceled due to a snow storm that hit us over the weekend.  But the kids were begging to go so we went anyway, and it turns out a few other Americans did as well.  So about 10 families threw an impromptu "trunk-or-treat" party in the snow.  Those are the snowy pictures you see below.  Not ideal of course, but it was better than nothing.  Then later in the week the event was rescheduled for Halloween night, so the kids ended up trunk-or-treating a 2nd time last night.  The parking lot was packed with expatriates from the school.  Then after trunk-or-treating we had a Halloween party back at our place with our friends the McGaughs.  We all had pizza, the kids performed a Halloween play, and we all played some "Halloween Charades."  

So that was our Halloween this year.  Not the best one we ever had, but we made it as special as we could.  For those of you who may be curious the Swiss do know what Halloween is, but few locals actually celebrate it.  Occasionally you'll find a small display of Halloween decorations in a store somewhere, but it's nowhere near the scale you'll find in the United States.  I've been told Halloween is slowly gaining in popularity in Switzerland, but I didn't see any indication of that.  I didn't see anyone setting out pumpkins or jack-o-lanters on their doorsteps, and I didn't see any kids walking around trick-or-treating last night.  For us that made Halloween night very odd.  Inside our apartment it was a fun Halloween celebration, but outside it was just another Wednesday night.  Weird...