Halloween is often associated with trick-or-treating, elaborate costumes and an eerie atmosphere on 31st October each year. Yet, the celebration takes on different forms around the world, shaped by the cultures, traditions and communities in which it is observed. As Halloween has spread across borders, familiar customs have been embraced and adapted in different ways, creating a range of traditions that may be unfamiliar even to those who celebrate Halloween.
For families in an international, multicultural community, exploring these differences can help children develop a wider understanding of the cultures around them. From traditional customs to modern celebrations, discover how Halloween is celebrated around the world.
Halloween Around the World
Halloween is a holiday celebrated annually on 31st October, known for traditions such as dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins and enjoying festive activities.
Halloween traces its history and origins to Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival celebrated in Ireland to mark the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. Over time, traditions from Samhain and All Hallows’ Eve contributed to the Halloween celebrated today (HISTORY.com Editors, 2026).
As Halloween travelled across borders, diverse communities embraced and adapted the tradition in their own ways, shaping how different cultures celebrate Halloween. What began as a festival rooted in ancient Celtic tradition has since become a widely recognised occasion, celebrated in ways that reflect the countries that have made it their own.
From costumes to traditions, Halloween around the world takes many different forms. (Source: Pexels)
How Halloween is Celebrated Across Cultures
Ireland
Many of Halloween’s core customs, including costumes and bonfires, have roots in Ireland, the birthplace of Halloween. Today, Irish celebrations continue to preserve these traditions, with communities lighting bonfires on Halloween night and families enjoying seasonal foods such as colcannon, a dish of mashed potatoes with cabbage and onions (RTÉ, 2025), and barmbrack, a fruit bread traditionally baked with objects such as a ring, coin or piece of cloth, each believed to tell fortunes about marriage, prosperity or hardship (Vice, 2016).
Guising, in which people dressed up and went door-to-door, also laid the foundations for the trick-or-treating tradition seen today. Festivals such as the Púca Festival in County Meath continue to celebrate Samhain through parades, music and crafts, keeping Ireland’s connection to Halloween’s cultural heritage alive (Ireland.com, 2024). The Ulster Folk Museum explains that hollowed turnips were carved before pumpkins became dominant under American influence.
Barmbrack, a traditional Irish fruit bread, is a familiar part of Halloween in Ireland, where hidden objects were traditionally used for fortune-telling. (Source: Adobe Stock)
United States
In the United States, Halloween has developed into a large-scale celebration known for neighbourhood trick-or-treating, elaborate decorations and creative costumes. Children go door-to-door to collect sweets, while homes and yards are transformed with pumpkins, lights and spooky displays.
The scale of the celebration is reflected in its economic impact. The National Retail Federation estimates that Halloween spending in the United States will reach $13.5 billion in 2026, maintaining the strong spending level of the previous year’s record $13.1 billion. Its latest survey found that 74% of consumers plan to celebrate Halloween, with handing out candy, dressing in costume, decorating homes and yards, carving pumpkins and watching scary movies among the most popular activities (National Retail Federation, 2026).
Pumpkin carving is a much-loved Halloween tradition in the United States, turning pumpkins into everything from classic jack-o’-lanterns to creative seasonal decorations. (Source: Magnific)
Japan
In Japan, Halloween has grown into a major urban event focused on costumes, street parties and themed attractions rather than family trick-or-treating. Major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka host large cosplay gatherings and parades, with the Shibuya area in Tokyo once known for massive crowds of costumed revellers before new rules limited street gatherings (Japanese Pod 101, 2025).
Theme parks run Halloween nights with special decorations, limited-edition food and costume contests, while convenience stores and supermarkets sell seasonal snacks and costume goods. Trick-or-treating remains rare and is mostly limited to organised events at international schools, housing compounds or commercial facilities rather than neighbourhoods (GaijinPot, 2023).
For our preschoolers at AHI, Halloween brought the excitement of dressing up, making crafts and enjoying a fun-filled trick-or-treating experience.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, Halloween is mainly celebrated in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi through decorated venues, costume parties and themed promotions at schools, shopping malls, cafés and bars. In Ho Chi Minh City, streets such as Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street and Bùi Viện Street see Halloween displays, costumed staff and special drink or food menus in the days leading up to 31 October (VietnamNet, 2019).
Young people and expatriates often mark the night by dressing up, taking photos, going to parties or visiting haunted-house style attractions set up by entertainment venues. International schools and language centres also organise trick-or-treating or costume parades for children, but door-to-door trick-or-treating is not common in residential areas (VNExpress, 2024).
What Halloween Looks Like at AHI
With students from more than 30 nationalities, AHI brings together children who may have grown up with very different experiences of Halloween. Their backgrounds can shape how they understand Halloween traditions in different countries and how different cultures celebrate Halloween. For some, the holiday may be associated with trick-or-treating and neighbourhood celebrations; for others, it may be more familiar as a school event, a costume tradition or a social occasion.
These different experiences are part of what makes Halloween across cultures meaningful within AHI’s multicultural community. Students have opportunities to share the traditions they know while discovering how others celebrate. Events such as the AHI Halloween Bazaar provide a space for students to come together, exchange experiences and take part in an international celebration of Halloween.
A glimpse of AHI’s How-oween Charity Bazaar 2023, featuring over 80 vendors and sponsors who brought the event to life.
Celebrating Difference, Together
Halloween around the world may differ, but sharing these traditions can turn a familiar celebration into an opportunity for children to learn about the people and cultures around them. By hearing how others celebrate, students can broaden their perspectives and develop a deeper understanding of the diverse world they are growing up in.
At AHI, cultural exchanges like these are part of everyday life in a multicultural community. Growing up alongside students and teachers from different backgrounds gives children opportunities to listen, share and learn from one another, helping them build the curiosity and respect they need to understand and engage with the diverse communities around them.
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References
GaijinPot. (2023, October 5). Halloween in Japan: What’s different?
https://blog.gaijinpot.com/halloween-in-japan/
HISTORY.com Editors. (2026, August 25). Halloween: Origins, movies & traditions | HISTORY.
https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-halloween
Ireland.com. (2024, October 21). 6 Halloween traditions that come from Ireland’s Samhain festival. Tourism Ireland.
https://www.ireland.ie/en/visit/halloween/6-halloween-traditions-that-come-from-irelands-samhain-festival/
Japanese Pod 101. (2025, October 29). Halloween in Japan: How do Japanese people celebrate?
https://www.japanesepod101.com/blog/2025/10/29/halloween-in-japan/
National Retail Federation. (2026). NRF Halloween survey shows consumer spending expected to reach $13.5 billion.
https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-halloween-survey-shows-consumer-spending-expected-to-reach-13-5-billion
RTÉ. (2025, October 31). Why colcannon is the taste of an Irish Halloween. RTÉ Culture.
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2025/1031/1533202-why-colcannon-is-the-taste-of-an-irish-halloween/
Vice. (2016, October 26). Ireland celebrates Halloween with a bread that predicts your future.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/ireland-celebrates-halloween-with-a-bread-that-predicts-your-future/
VietnamNet. (2019, October 31). Best spots for a Halloween hangout in Ho Chi Minh City.
https://vietnamnet.vn/en/best-spots-for-a-halloween-hangout-in-ho-chi-minh-city-583844.html
VNExpress. (2024, October 31). Foreigners in Vietnam celebrate Halloween to ease homesickness.
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/life/trend/foreigners-in-vietnam-celebrate-halloween-to-ease-homesickness-4810699.html