Is trick or treating just for kids?
What age is too old to trick or treat? Students are divided.
As Halloween approaches, people buy fake blood or glitter for their costumes. Others start looking for the perfect pumpkin to carve or decorate their home like a haunted house or a castle. It’s the time of the year that people can be over the top and escape judgment. It’s also the time of year when students search for the house that gives out full-size candy bars.
Trick or Treating dates back to the Middle Ages where villagers would dress up in costumes made from animal skins hoping to scare spirits away. Eventually this developed into people disguising themselves as monsters and ghosts performing tricks in exchange for food.
This tradition is still going strong among underclassmen who reported plans to trick or treat on Tuesday, while many seniors plan to go to parties. This brings up the question: Is there an age limit to trick or treating? Opinions differed slightly through the grade levels. Most students agreed that there is no age limit to going door to door asking for candy, but some thought trick or treating should only be a phase.
Junior Kael Johnston believed one is never too old to trick or treat, while fellow junior Michael Fox said it should stop in college. Freshman Maya Brittingham had a similar opinion that senior year of high school is when it is no longer “socially acceptable” to trick or treat. Briana Farnsworth (also a freshman) described how she thinks anyone should be allowed to enjoy trick or treating because “free candy is free candy.”
Junior Sophia Santoriello acknowledges the practice can become disconcerting past a certain age.
“There definitely is an age [that’s too old] because if you’re 50 and showing up to people’s houses asking for candy, that’s creepy,” Santoriello said.
Some trick or treaters above the age of 17 reported feeling judged when their neighbors opened the door. A few were even questioned about their age and denied candy. Senior Kaitlyn Rice expressed disappointment in such a situation.
“I was trick or treating with my 5 and 7 year old siblings and when my neighbor opened the door, she saw me and said ‘Aren’t you a bit too old to be doing this?’ and didn’t give me any candy,” Rice said.
Students may visit haunted houses, throw costume parties, go trick or treating or celebrate some other way.
Halloween has been celebrated for thousands of years and has remained one of the most popular holidays in the country. Whether one celebrates by going door to door filling up a pillowcase with candy, dressing up, partying, or just watching movies, there’s no age limit to celebrate this eerie yet quirky holiday.
