1 â Halloween in France â a Good Commercial Opportunity
So Halloween is not a typical French holiday but stores try to take advantage of it, and itâs not unusual to find a âcarve your Halloween pumpkin (âune citrouilleâ or âun potironâ) display at your local grocery store.
Well, pumpkins donât sell like hotcakes in France, so I guess everything is good to try to sell them⊠But I donât know that French people are massively carving pumpkins or doing anything special for HalloweenâŠ

2 â Halloween is a fun way to Motivate French Kids to Practice English
With English being studied in elementary school, kids usually know about Halloween. There are many fun activities that can be done on the Halloween theme, and candies are sufficient motivation for any kid in the world!
Unfortunately, Halloween is usually during mid-season school break (âles vacances de la Toussaintâ), so schools donât usually organize a trick-or-treating outing.
Although some neighborhoods are more responsive than others, trick-or-treating is not yet part of the French tradition, and people have mixed reactions to being âdisturbedâ at nightfall for candies by kids in costumes.
3 â How do you say âTrick or Treatâ in French?
Well⊠you donât!
The whole point being to have French kids use a few English words⊠But a good translation would be in French:
- âdes bonbons ou un sortâ (candies or a spell),
- âbĂȘtises ou friandisesâ (mischiefs or sweets).
4 â No Tricks on Halloween in France
Note however the âtrickâ part is out of the question in France⊠That part of the tradition didnât make it (yet ?) and French folks have not had the pleasure to receive eggs or toilets paper over their fences, trees, houseâŠ

5 â Only Scary Costumes for Halloween in France
French kids donât seem to be aware that you donât have to necessarily dress scary for Halloween. No lovely princesses or fairies on Halloween in France. Only ghosts zombies and vampires. Maybe thatâs why some French people donât like it.
The other costumes must be saved for Mardi Gras (which is not really a celebrated anymore in FranceâŠ)
French people typically love costume parties, they are very popular for New Yearâs Eve or birthdays, even among grown-ups.

A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.
6 â Halloween is Still a Foreign Holiday in France
If Halloween is a big hit in larger cities which often organise parades etc⊠Itâs still a âforeignâ holiday in smaller countryside villages. Most French people wonât have candies handy, and houses are not usually decorated for Halloween.
We live in a small 8000 inhabitant town called âPaimpolâ, in a very quiet residential street. No trick or treaters for us, although Paimpolâs shopkeeper usually organizes soemthing for kids in the town center in the afternoon of Halloween, and local businesses give away candies.
Since kids didnât come to my house, in 2019, I went to look for them in my neighbourhood. I crossed path with 2 groups of 4 kids. I asked them why they were wearing costumes and, they answer âbecause of the candiesâ. When I asked âdo you know what day is todayâ, I got one â because itâs Halloweenâ out of the 8 kidsâŠ
When I asked them if they knew how to say âtrick or treatâ in English or French⊠they didnât know nor the words, nor the tradition⊠Just that they were likely to get candies today!
The 2019 parade in the middle of town was a big hit though. It was held from 4 to 5 PM, and many kids and parents showed up. The shops were not particularly decorated⊠And the costumes were more or less creative: sometimes just a mask, hat or wig thrown over regular clothings.
7 â Halloween is Getting mix Reactions From French Folks
In the small countryside village where my parents live, the school teacher is serious about teaching English, and loves the opportunity Halloween provides to motivate kids.
All the kids meet up at the school and then go trick-or treating, and guess what? My parentâs house is right in front of the school. Itâs the one house all the kids are sure to hit!!!
My Mom (75 years old) hates it. My Dad (80 years young) loves it :-)

8 â Halloween has the Same Ideas as the French Catholic Holiday âLa Toussaintâ
Itâs too bad though, because on November 1st is the Catholic Holiday of âla Toussaintâ (All Saints Day), when French people traditionally visit cemeteries, freshen up the tomb displays, bringing colourful mums (âdes chrysanthĂšmesâ chrysanthemums, aka mums)⊠symbol of death, never to be given as a bouquet/present⊠that would be a big faux-pas !!) and pray to their dead and their favorite saints.
La Toussaint, November 1st is a holiday in France: everything is closed. Itâs in the middle of the school vacation âles vacances de la Toussaintâ so kids are around. Families often gather together for a meal, and bring flowers to the cemetery (le cimetiĂšre).
If you know French people who suffered the loss of a love one, this is a good time to send your sympathy in French.
These are the same ideas that are at the very heart of Halloween. I feel Halloween could be a great way to get younger people to carry on ancient French traditions that are getting forgotten, while also integrating a fun American celebration.
9 â French Halloween Video
In 2019, I went in the streets of Paimpol to so you could see a bit the âambianceâ of Halloween in my small countryside town of Brittany.
It was raining that day, pretty hard. And the shopkeepers organisation had decided to celebrate Halloween on October 30th? Why??? Iâm not sure: probably because it was on a Wednesday when kids have no school (but the shopkeepers had forgotten that it was during the French school holidays anyway⊠Typical French LOL).
You may turn on/off French/English subtitles by playing with the CC option located to the bottom right of the video.
10 â French Halloween Vocabulary
- La Toussaint â All Saint Day
- Le trente et un octobre â 31st of October
- Halloween â halloween (say it the French way âa lo weenâ)
- Friandises ou bĂȘtises/ Des bonbons ou un sort â treat or trick
- Un dĂ©guisement, un costume â a costume
- Un fantĂŽme â a ghost
- Un vampire â a vampire
- Une sorciĂšre â a witch
- Une princesse â a princess
- Un squelette â skeleton
- Un Ă©pouvantail â a scarecrow
- Un diable â a devil
- Une momie â a mummy
- Un monstre â a monster
- Une chauve-souris â a bat
- Une araignĂ©e â a spider
- Une toile dâaraignĂ©e â spider web
- Un chat noir â a black cat
- Un potiron, une citrouille â a pumpkin
- Une bougie â a candle
- Des bonbons â candies
- Une maison hantĂ©e â a haunted house
- Un cimetiĂšre â a cemetery
- une fĂ©e â a fairy
- un pirate â a pirate
- un homme des cavernes â a caveman
- un dĂ©mon â a demon
- une goule â a goul
- un zombie â a zombie
- un extraterrestre â an alien
- Un loup-garou â a werewolf
- le sang â the blood
- se maquiller â to wear makeup â see my article about French reflexive verbs
- le maquillage â the makeup
- une perruque â a wig
- un masque â a mask
- une cicatrice â a scar
- les canines de vampire â the vampire fangs
- Se dĂ©guiser (en) â to wear a costume, to dress-up as
- Je me dĂ©guise en sorciĂšre â I am wearing a witch costume, I am dressing-up as a witch
- Sculpter une citrouille â to carve a pumpkin
- Frapper Ă la porte â to knock on the door
- Sonner Ă la sonnette â to ring the bell
- Aller de maison en maison â to go from house to house
- Faire peur Ă quelquâun â to scare someone
- Avoir peur â to be scared
- Donner des bonbons â to give candies
For people interested, I have recorded the French Catholic Mass.
You may also be interested on how to express your sympathy in French â French Vocabulary about death.
Learn French in context: check out French Todayâs downloadable French audiobooks: French Todayâs bilingual novels are recorded at different speeds and enunciation, and focus on todayâs modern glided pronunciation.
Comments