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Costume: scary or funny?
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My Halloween started in New York
As a boy, Toussaint meant vacation, so I travelled to New York to see my dad. We went trick-or-treating in his building, floor to floor. So yes, I know how Halloween works. I just do it the French way.
1. The costume has to be scary
Witch, ghost, skeleton, vampire. In France, Halloween costumes are meant to frighten. A French person sees a grown man dressed as a taco and asks what it has to do with Halloween. Me, I don’t wear costumes. I open the door.
2. Dinner first, then candy
The trick-or-treating waits until everyone has eaten at the table. The candy is dessert, not the meal. At our house there is one menu and one table, Halloween included.
3. The pumpkin becomes soup
They will carve one with the kids, then ask what is for dinner from the rest of it. In France, a pumpkin is food first. See why Americans don’t eat their pumpkins.
Halloween quiz
How American Is Your Halloween?
One pumpkin or nineteen, a door or a twelve-foot skeleton, soup or carving.
Take the quiz4. They call it commercial, and do it anyway
About 80% of French people saw Halloween as mainly commercial in 2022. They will still buy the bag of candy; they will just tell you who invented the holiday while they do it.
Before the 1990s, parts of France had their own 31 October custom: in Finistère and Lorraine, people carved beetroots into heads and put a candle inside.
5. They are already thinking about Toussaint
The next day, 1 November, is All Saints’ Day, a public holiday when French families visit the cemetery with chrysanthemums. In 2026 it falls on a Sunday, during the school break that runs from 17 October to 2 November. More in what is Toussaint.
Questions, answered
How do you say trick or treat in French?
“Des bonbons ou un sort”: candy or a spell.
Is Halloween a public holiday in France?
No. Toussaint, the next day, is.
When did Halloween arrive in France?
In the late 1990s, mostly through brands and supermarkets.
Still wondering?
Ask my French husband.
A short ruling in a few seconds. Written by AI from our Journal, in his voice.
For more of my Halloween verdicts, we’re on Instagram — and Le Bulletin gets field notes like this one.
Before you go
Could You Survive a French Dinner Party?
When to arrive, which flowers never to bring, and when to leave.
