Hi. We are moving to Zurich in August and I am wondering if they do Halloween? My 4 year old keeps asking me if Switzerland has her two favorite holidays, Halloween and Christmas. I googled but all I can find is "they used to in the 90's but it is dying out." Big blue eyes was just asking me and I'd like to know what to tell her. TIA

Christmas, absolutely! Halloween, yes to some extent but not as much as in the US.

Here's a thread from last October you might be interested in:
Trick or treaters? [Halloween]

Hi,

I live in Horgen and had trick or treaters dressed up knocking on Halloween, but it was pre-arranged...

From speaking to my friend who was taking her child and some school friends of her child it seems like its done, but at prearranged houses... a lot of the shop sell halloween type goodies...

Thanks, that is what I was afraid of. My daughter's favorite part of Halloween is everyone telling her how cute she is in her costume and the elaborately decorated houses. She's a funny kid.

If you live in an area with a lot of "expats" you may find they arrange a limited form of Halloween between them. But it does involve a lot of arranging and it just wouldn't be possible to do it spontaneously...
In reality there are rather a lot more significant changes in lifestyle that are every day of the year, but your little one may not blink an eyelid at them so don't worry!

It's long way to go before you will have one again. They only managed to burn Bögg in Zurich on fire lately to welcome the spring.

We are doing a haunted house for kids - details in this EF link.

Happy Halloween everybody.

But you should be aware and telling them that some things are different here. Santa Claus is in action on 6th December, while the Christmas gifts are brought round by the Christkind . And Halloween in Zurich among the children became more popular when the authorities killed the Schul-Sylvester and some teachers realized that Halloween could serve as a replacement. While it of course neither is deeprooted nor is there any kind of tradition for Halloween. And you should realize that children get the presents on Christmas Eve. If you do it on 25th December, your children will be the only ones who have to wait another "endless" 24 hours.

And yes, arrange to be visited by a Santa Claus in the evening of 6th December. In our family in the 1950ies, one of the neighbours played "Samichlaus" and his show was superb. We did not reveal twice that we even knew who he was, because we enjoyed his show, and the nuts and the chocolates !

Wollishofener is right. Twenty years ago, Halloween was totally unknown here, except to a few Angloamericophiles (my coinage). In the late nineties, trade and industry began pushing it, and, since Hollywood is in every living room, they even succeeded to a certain degree. However, only very few people here know the cultural background. It's just another occasion to let your hair down and go to town.

Magnolia,

It's not really popular, but I usually arrange a small halloween party every year with some of my American friends. I've asked some Swiss to come too which is always fun since they're not used to the costume tradition. Unfortunately since it's not so popular, I have to order kid's costumes online. For adults, its usually easier to be creative and come up with something on your own without having to really buy a costume.

You might want to check your local community centres.

I know there's a "do" for 4 - 8 year-olds on Friday afternoon, 30th October in the community centre in Seefeld = GZ Riesbach. You need to sign up for it; fancy dress required, no adults , CHF 7.00 / per child. It's not on their list of events on the website; I picked up a flyer while I was there.

In our area, we go out in groups - younger children always accompanied by one or two adults. We only knock on doors of neighbours we know will appreciate being disturbed by some ghoulish looking creatures - otherwise there's just too much explaining to do

Yes they have Halloween,some whole-heartedly others reluctedly.We,along with the others in the street, have been invited on the 31st to a neighbours for soup.The kids dress up not the adults. Most view it as too American and irrelevant to their culture .

Halloween in the villages lives on. My grandkids enjoy it. They have learned that there is a strategy to adopt ....... only those houses with Halloween decorations are the ones to go knocking at ........ Pumpkins and other decor means the inhabitants are waiting with bunches of sweets for the kids to arrive.

Although, we`ve had less and less children come knocking this last 2 years.

Safest to always have an adult hanging about in the background on their walk-about - in this modern day and age.

It in Zurich among schoolchildren became important when the authorities killed the Schul-Sylvester and the teachers realized that Halloween was exactly the thing needed the fill the gap. And at least in Zurich takes place in late afternoon and evening, which is far more practical than the Schulsylvester in ungodly early morning hours.

But of course, in Zurich it is something for the children, primarily at least

We will be opening at 17:00 until 20:00

This is mostly for families with children between 5 and 10 but children of all ages are welcome.

Hi guys
Halloween really is not big over here. And I think that's okay. It simply is not our culture... But hey! Alternatively you could introduce a Swiss cultural supplement for Halloween to your daughter; Räbeliechtliumzug!
Check this out: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Räbenlicht

There are some pretty big events of this kind. I used to love it when I was little. It's a good family event and kinda makes you feel united with people from your town/city too.
Have fun with it!
david

I don't know about anyone else, but we saw a HUGE uptick in trick-or-treaters this year. We had big groups of Swiss children coming into our building, and many more on the streets. This is quite different from what we have seen in our neighborhood for the past two years. It was a good way to get rid of a bunch of Branch candies I had in the kitchen....

Anyone else see this?

We had lots too - but perhaps that was due to the fact that we had a "ghost train" and party in the attic. Doing things like that spreads like wildfire and you end up with half the local school turning up on your doorstep.

It was great fun - but next year, we'll be out trick-treating again too.