Ghosted: It’s just spooky how Halloween is suddenly haunting Europe

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It’s not your imagination: Halloween is now a thing in Europe, particularly where we live in the south of the Netherlands. A really big thing. Neighborhood by neighborhood, town by town and city by city, ghosts, witches and superheroes are invading.

Our friend Edith Snelders told us that in her Eindhoven neighborhood of De Roosten, neighbors organized Halloween several years ago because a few kids wanted to celebrate. “This year we had around 35 houses that were Halloween-decorated, 100 kids and a few more houses that weren’t decorated but the kids could ring for ‘trick or treat.’ “

(Editor’s note: In the Netherlands, Halloween is a two-weekend event, with parties on the weekend before Halloween, on Halloween itself and the weekend after Halloween. This is the first year we saw trick-or-treaters and elaborate decorations in our little village of Leenderstijp.)

Her neighbors communicate Halloween plans via apps and by an “orange letter” in the mailbox, Edith said. “Nothing via socials to keep this as a neighborhood community activity. Kids of course bring their friends.”

We noticed this year in particular that there are more costumes, more decorations and more Halloween candies in stores. Oh, and we just got our “orange letter,” though ours is green … our invitation to our neighborhood association’s Halloween Vossenjacht, or Foxhunt.

Okay, I had to ask a Dutch person about where Halloween and fox hunting intersect, and he said vossenjacht can also mean a hunt for items. I’m like, “duh … trick-or-treating!” And on the invite, there’s a map of the village where people will be handing out candy.

With the American Halloween tradition of kids going door-to-door asking for treats (and pulling tricks on the recalcitrant), this seems like a natural for the party-loving Dutch, who are adding their own flourishes to the tradition.

Meet the Halloween OG

When we first moved to Germany back in 2002, the only Halloween celebrations were on our American military base. In 2024, we’re getting flyers for Halloween parties in our tiny hamlet of Leenderstrijp and this past weekend, Amsterdam was full of people in costume headed for parties.

By luck, we ran into the guy who actually imported the holiday to the Netherlands. Francesco Tijnagel is the owner of Louis Witttenburg Halloween & Partysupplies at Raadhuisstraat 16 in Amsterdam.

Francesco told me that in 1988, he started looking for a way to boost his costume business: “We can’t do Carnival here in Amsterdam. That’s only in the south.” Carnival, with its wild costumes, parades and elaborate (often raucous) street parties, is celebrated “south of the rivers” in Brabant and Limburg. It has its roots in the south’s Roman Catholic Lenten traditions while Amsterdam is in the Protestant north of the Netherlands. So, Francesco seized on the agnostic (and very commercial) American Halloween, celebrated every 31 October, and which originated in Ireland with the ancient Celts.

On a sunny Saturday just five days before Halloween 2024, his three-floor store in Amsterdam was jamming, with a long line at the cash register. Halloween is so important to Louis Wittenburg that Francesco flies to trade shows in the United States, where he says the latest costumes and decoration trends originate.

“I have to stay ahead” in a business that’s been growing dramatically every year for years, he said.

Is this more of the creeping American commercialism into Europe? Yep. Back in 2017, National Geographic had a post, “Love It or Hate It, Halloween is Going Global,” documenting the increasing popularity along with the push-back from Europeans who are still mad about the Americans ruining Christmas with crass commercialism.

But the Dutch are, if nothing else, flexible and love to have fun. And what’s more fun than free candy and being Harry Potter for a night?

Here’s where to go if you’re an adult jonesing for a great Halloween night:

Amsterdam

Halloween is huge here. Here’s just one list.

London

CN Traveller has a solid list you can see here.

MyLondon also has a list.

Republic of Ireland

Here’s a list of parties in the place it all started.

Germany

Fodors has a list of this year’s parties.

Frankfort

Here are the parties in Mainhattan.

Berlin

Eventbrite has a list of parties in Berlin.

France

Sortir A Paris has the list of parties by arrondissement.

Spain

Here are the parties in Barcelona.

Dubai

Halloween has even spread to the Middle East. Here are the parties in Dubai.