Trick-or-treating is one of the most long-standing and beloved Halloween traditions in North America. All across the continent, kids at this very moment are chomping at the bit to dress up in costume and feast on candy.
The idea of trick-r-treating, however, isn’t without controversy and every year the same debate seems to rear its head as to when a child should hang up their pillowcase. So in order to finally put this to bed, at exactly what age should someone stop trick-r-treating ?
Halloween has no shortage of fun-filled spooky traditions.
The fall season is the perfect time for carving jack-o-lanterns. They make a creepy addition to the front porch of any home, and you can even roast the seeds for a tasty treat!
For those who fancy themselves horror buffs, there’s no better time of year to watch a scary movie.
I don’t discriminate when it comes to horror films, but for my money, they seldom get much better than James Wan’s Insidious.
But of all the many Halloween traditions, one has been upheld for generations above any other.
I’m talking about trick-r-treating, of course! What could possibly be better than going door-to-door and getting free candy, simply for dressing up in a costume?
Although it might be hard to fathom, trick-r-treating and dressing up in costume have been done in one form or another for more than 2000 years.
The ancient Celts used to celebrate Samhain on the 31st of October. They’d dress up in animal skins, hold great feasts, and place food outside their doors to ward off evil spirits.
In the Middle Ages, people began dressing up as ghosts, witches, and other demonic spirits.
During this time, people would perform various antics in exchange for food and drink. This was known as “mumming” and is thought to be a precursor to trick-r-treating.
Halloween and trick-r-treating as we’ve come to know them today were firmly established by the early 1950s.
Walt Disney’s Trick or Treat as well as various “Peanuts” comic strips written by Charles Schultz helped popularize the custom of going door-to-door, looking for candy.
Over the past decades, there’s been an undying debate regarding the proper age for children/young adults to stop trick-r-treating.
Depending on where you happen to live, the attitudes and ideas toward Halloween and trick-r-treating differ greatly from one another.
For example, the powers that be in Chesapeake, Virginia, have decided that age 14 should be the cut-off.
If you happen to live in Bathurst, New Brunswick, you can actually be fined for trick-r-treating if you’re over the age of 16. Finally, Upper Deerfield Township in New Jersey strongly suggests that trick-r-treating be reserved for kids 12 and under.
In order to gain better insight into the topic, etiquette expert Catherine Newman is weighing in with her own opinion.
“If a 17-year-old wants to dress up with their friends and trade candy at the end of the night, I think that’s great ,” she said to TODAY Parents .
“Little kids die of happiness when they see big kids dressed up. It validates their excitement,” she explained.
That being said, Newman believes that older kids should be mindful when it comes to making their costume selection, and opt for something that isn’t too terrifying or inappropriate for younger children.
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She also says that just because big kids can stay up late, doesn’t mean that they should.
Absolutely nobody is going to give you anything if you come knocking on their door at 11 PM — especially if Halloween happens to fall on a weeknight like it does this year.
But above all else, if older children choose to trick-r-treat, they must go out of their way to be polite to homeowners and their fellow trick-r-treaters.
“Really, as long as you say ‘please’ and ‘thank you,’ you’re good to go,” Newman said.
Newman also believes that it’s equally as important for homeowners on the other side of the door to be polite.
Newman goes out of her way to point out that many older kids with developmental disabilities enjoy trick-r-treating and that you should resist that urge to ask, “Hey, aren’t you a little old?”
In case you were wondering, the answer is yes — Newman’s own 16-year-old daughter plans on trick-r-treating this year.
Catharine says that she will also probably get a little choked up when the time comes for her daughter to head out. She said that Halloween reminds her of a simpler time before kids had smartphones and social media at their disposal.
So if you see someone who you might feel is a bit above the watermark to trick-r-treat this year, keep your rotten candy-apple opinions to yourself.
Instead of being judgmental, try appreciating someone having fun for fun’s sake. I know that’s what I’ll be doing this year — along with stuffing my face with mini Mars bars.
