Now that we have crept into September, fall is finally approaching. Sweaters, warm candles, the smell of pumpkin cookies, and most of all, stores putting up their Halloween sections are finally here. Halloween is one of the most fun holidays of the year. Spooky music, costumes, fun crafts, parties, but especially trick-or-treating and getting all the candy your heart desire- “I’m in high school, I do not wanna go do that stuff.” The question remains of how old is too old to hit the streets of decorated neighborhoods and trick-or-treat. How old is too old?
Trick-or-treating is an activity that children nationwide partake in on Halloween night, where kids go up to neighbors’ doors and collect candy in all different costumes. According to History.com, trick-or-treating first began 2,000 years ago in a festival that was held in modern-day Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France called the Samhain festival. The ones who held these festivals were the Celtic Villagers and they would gather around bonfires, offer sacrifices, and pay homage to the dead (Creepy, right?). Villagers disguised themselves in costumes to drive away unwelcomed phantom visitors and left out buffets of food to soothe the spirits. Much later, people started to dress up as evil creatures and perform in exchange for food. This was known as mumming during the Middle Ages and was the first practice of trick-or-treating.
Trick-or-treating eventually evolved into an activity of fun and mischief for young children with the common phrase “Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!” instead of performing to receive said treat. Halloween has now become the holiday to splash out on candy, and today, Americans spend billions of dollars each year on candy for trick-or-treating. But this Halloween practice is meant for only small children nowadays. The question still lingers every time Halloween arises, How old should you be to stop trick-or-treating?
Trick-or-treating is an activity known for kids to run around and finally collect all the sugar their hearts desire, still innocent enough to feel the magic of Halloween and still obvious that this magic will end one day. Henry Burt (age 7) and Mae Hollis Burt (age 4) are still up and at it with trick-or-treating, so they have now become the new stars of the Daily Chomp. “I like trick-or-treating like 101 and I am gonna be a soldier for Halloween, Hollis is a mermaid” Henry blurted, squirming in his seat excited to be a part of the interview while Mae Hollis was attempting to grab the cotton candy grapes from the top shelf of the fridge. “I was also Jack Skeleton and and you should be a monster.” Henry shouted. After some more screaming and running around the house trying to get the kids to sit back down for the interview (do not recommend seriously interviewing small children), Mae Hollis was finally ready to be questioned. “I like trick-or-treating 107 and I want 100 and 100 candy to fill the playroom up to the walls with the candies. But then I want 1,781 candy, and then we just freak out and run around and then just go to different worlds on Halloween.” Hollis informed. After playing a bit, yelling, and finally getting some answers, the Burt siblings had the final question, “What age do you think people should stop trick or treating?” At the same time, both shouted, “Ummm like 106 years old” along with “NO only if you turn 16,100 then you can stop.” Even if kids are still in the running for trick-or-treating, and not very serious interviewers, the magic of dressing up and stuffing your faces with candy during Halloween is enteral for everyone, unless you are over 106.
As children grow into teens and become more independent, they break away from child-like activities such as recess and playing with dolls, unfortunately, this also includes breaking away from trick-or-treating too. Normally faced with the question “Don’t you think you are a little old to be trick-or-treating?” by adults, teens can feel like they are too cool for ‘little kid stuff’. William Terry, a freshman at Greenwood High School, explained, “Teens mainly like peer pressure kind of because they all wanna fit in and all the popular kids frown upon it and so they just wanna not get made fun of and disrespected of whatever because they wanna feel older so then they do not have as much fun because they are not doing what they want.” Sadly, William Terry is spot-on with his answer. Even though many still hold on to the spark of enjoyment that they experienced as a child running around past their bedtime and scarfing down can
dy, many try to please people and seem older even if the people they are trying to impress are just doing the same thing. Eliza Lewis, A freshman at Greenwood High School and a good friend of mine added to the conversation “Old people, I think some of it is from people trying to be cool but old people they are always like ‘Oh why are you still trick-or-treating?’ but it is also kinda like could be part of why people need to feel cool but I do not really care just have fun no one else cares about you.” Ultimately, kids should still be kids and teens are no exception, no matter what anybody tells you if you wanna trick-or-treat, go do it!
Children are not only the ones experiencing the joys of your Halloween trick-or-treat sessions, but also parents too. Parents have watched their kids run around and have as much fun as they did when they were kids. But how do they feel after watching their children trick-or-treat? Ms. Emili Terry, a teacher at Greenwood High School and mother of William Terry, said “Never! You should always get to have fun and do fun things. Trick-or-treating should not be reserved for just kids and it is for teens too, but not like after high school it is getting too old, but I have an excuse because of my kids.” Then Terry replied amusingly, “Adulting sucks. Zero stars do not recommend so be a kid when you can be a kid and enjoy it while you can because no one brings candy when I go trick-or-treating, I have to steal it from my kids.” She complained with a sarcastic smile on her face. Ms. MaryBeth McGinty, a teacher at Greenwood High School, answered beautifully with, “So I think once you graduate from high school, and here’s why like I think high school kids should still trick-or-treat because that means that they are trick-or-treating and not doing something they are not supposed to do. Also, I trick-or-treated when I was in high school because I looked like a twelve-year-old so everybody should be able to get free candy. And then when you have kids you trick or treat, even if you have a newborn baby it is an excuse to get candy.” She explained with a smile including a laugh. Overall, no matter what trick-or-treating will forever be an activity that children, teens, and adults will forever have in their hearts.
