Amsterdam

Halloween, as we have our own slightly different version called Sint Maarten. During Sint Maarten children don’t dress up, they instead go door to door with homemade lanterns in hopes of scoring a months’ supply of candy. However, Amsterdam being the internationally oriented city that it is, there are of course quite a few events surrounding Halloween for everyone to enjoy!

We are soon to be expats from the US who greatly enjoy Halloween and the fall celebrations that come with it here in America.

We are curious how the holiday is celebrated in the Netherlands? We’ve heard some mixed accounts and are looking for more input.

For example, in America, people start decorating their houses end of September and haunted houses and other themed events pop up all during October. The day itself usually sees a lot of kids out asking for candy and many adults also dress in costume and host parties. A lot of fall themed things such as pumpkin patches happen during this time as well.

Note: This isn’t a thread about how to americanize the Dutch. This is a thread to learn more about the culture we’ll be moving to soon. We appreciate all the answers and look forward to experiencing a new place and taking part in new traditions.