Clayton & Co.: trick or treat

Halloween is not a big holiday in Switzerland. In fact, we found out that they have only been celebrating it for about 10 years. They definitely don't have it down like Americans, but let's be honest, we were just thrilled that they celebrate it at all. For us it was a two day event. On Friday afternoon the kids went to a Halloween party at a friend's house, complete with games and costumes. I'll have to admit that my kids were the only ones dressed up as characters and my Henry was the only baby in costume. Most of the costumes consisted of ghouls and ghosts and other creepy things, although there were a couple of pirates.

Towards the end of the party the kids went around to a dozen houses to trick-or-treat. This part was funny for me because the kids didn't say "trick-or-treat" or even "Happy Halloween!", even though the majority of them spoke English (from Great Britain or South Africa). Usually they said, "Do you have any sweets?" or "Can I have some sweets?". Then whoever was handing out candy would usually give them a handfull of individual candies which consisted of chewy candy (think Starburst or Mambas) or hard-tack candy (think Brachs). Of course my kids were the only ones who had their trick-or-treat buckets. Most of the kids used little bags and a couple kids had a little basket.

This flyer appeared in our mailbox a few weeks before Halloween. Basically it says that if you want trick-or-treaters, put this on your door and the kids can knock between 6 and 8pm. We split the trick-or-treating into 2 parts. The first time, I took the kids out while Pete answered our door. The second time Alex, Ruby and Pete went out with some friends from church so I had a chance to pass out candy.

I was really surprised by the number of kids that showed up at our door. It was funny to see lots of teenagers and kids who weren't dressed up at all but had their bags and were expecting candy. Like before, they usually didn't say anything. I would open the door, say "bon soir" and they would stand there staring at me. Then after I put candy in their bags (good American candy I might add) they would walk away without saying anything. There were a few who said "merci" but it was more of a silent exchange.

Our friends, the Christensens, moved to Geneva about 3 months after us. Our kids match up exactly and we are so glad they are here. Ruby and Elsa are pretty inseparable when we go to church or parkdays. It was fun to have them over on Halloween. They live in Geneva and since nobody really trick-or-treats in the city they headed up our way.

Alex modeling his lightning scar

Saturday night our ward had a Halloween party. Because you never know whether or not it's going to rain, instead of decorating cars and doing a trunk-or-treat, they decorate doors inside the church. After dinner and games the kids were able to go around the building and trick-or-treat at different classroom doors that had been decorated by families.