Süßes oder Saures?

Right off the bat, I'd like to say I hope you're all reading this with a big tub of accumulated candy:)

Halloween in Germany was quite a different experience from that in America.

Although making jack-o'-lanterns is a popular activity here as well, that's about as far as decorating usually goes. Unless a party is being thrown [in which case there are fake webs and candles and spiders galore], houses just don't get decorated.

None of this at all :(

Trick of treating is strictly for little kids here- none of the obnoxious middle and high school kids [of which I may or may not have been one of] trying to get in on the fun. In addition, rather than saying 'trick or treat', kids say 'Süßes oder Saures?'-- literally translating to 'sweets or sours?'.
[Although there were two little witches who came to our door and sang some chant or other, which was pretty impressive:) ]

However, the biggest difference is in dressing up. First off, students don't get dressed up at all going to school [awww...] and not everyone does when going out at night.
But when they do, they only dress up as scary, 'typical' Halloween beasties.

A ghoul of a host brother.

When asking around what people are dressing up as, the only answers I got were as vampires, devils, monsters, witches, and the like. None of our American cutesie Disney princess and Dorothy of Oz get-ups; real horrors come out to play when the sun goes down. Which isn't to say that there aren't cute costumes-- only that there's more Halloween spirit in the sense of all things scary and supernatural, as opposed to the "let's eat lots of candy!" vibe one gets in the U.S.
[Not that there's anything at all wrong with that.]

The best part though? The following day is a holiday, letting us sleep off the previous night's shenanigans-- an absolutely brilliant idea, in my opinion:)

Paprika flavoured Pringle puppy

Regardless, whether in Germany or America or anywhere else in the world,

Happy [late] Halloween!(: