As Americans it’s part of our duty to spread our awesome culture where ever we go. On October 31st that meant dressing up and throwing a Halloween party, because we didn’t think the Swiss took the holiday seriously enough. There were pumpkins, a small section of costumes, and decorations at the stores, but there wasn’t a single decoration hung in all the apartment windows of our neighborhood. However, that changed after I bought a stack of construction paper and went to work with my scissors. On our main window I hung up pumpkins we carved from orange paper, and a life sized skeleton (even though Melissa was worried our neighbors might not understand Halloween, and think we’re weird.)
On Halloween night, just as we were waiting for Melissa’s work colleagues to arrive for the party, our doorbell rang. Trick or Treaters! The Swiss do celebrate Halloween! Luckily we had some candy to give out because of the party, but not very much. I held the bowl of all our candy out and the three kids started scooping it into their bags, taking about half of it before I thought to say au revoir. Thankfully only about 8 or 10 more kids came, and Melissa took over the candy bowl, so we didn’t run out.
Our party went well, two other people dressed up, and we visited and played a couple games until 1 a.m.
p.s. Melissa’s costume is a modern art painting, and I’m a skelton
Love it and you still get to have spiders in the apt!