Every Halloween, teenagers have to make the decision on whether to go trick or treating or stay home. As students grow older, some question whether trick or treating is still socially acceptable.
Traditionally, younger children have been the ones going door to door asking for candy, as they have for 100 years, according to the History Channel’s website. However, some high school students go as well because they want the free candy, according to Hayley Herriges, junior.
“I don’t know [if I’m going] yet… but I want to go [trick or treating] because you get free candy,” Herriges said. “I like [seeing people dressed up] and I guess free candy is important because my mom doesn’t buy candy a lot, so Halloween is an excuse to eat as much candy as I want with no penalty.”
Other students feel too old to participate in this Halloween event despite the candy, according to Andrew Baumann, freshman.
“I’m not [trick or treating] because it just seems like something younger kids would do, like the whole concept of dressing up and going door to door,” Baumann said. “It feels like you never see any other teenagers or kids my age going around trick or treating. You can almost see when you go to people’s houses – like I went 2 years ago – and people were astonished that someone 12 [years old] was still trick or treating.”
Some adults have been very concerned about teenagers being allowed to trick or treat alongside younger children. In 2008, the mayor of Belleville, Illinois banned high school-aged teens from participating in the Halloween ritual because the residents were uncomfortable with so many teenagers coming to their doors. Although there are set hours for trick or treating in LZ, there are no laws concerning who can or cannot trick or treat.
“If [teenagers] want to go trick or treating, they can go trick or treating. That’s fine,” Todd Gregory, P.E department chair, said. “But I always kind of wonder what’s going to happen after trick or treating. Are they going to do something to my house or do something to somebody else’s house? Are they going to go TPing or stuff like that?”
According to Baumann, Halloween has a reputation for TPing and other pranks. He said he sees about two or three houses TPed the day after Halloween. When they do actually go trick or treating, some teenagers just throw a costume together or do not even wear one because all they want is the candy, Baumann said.
“[We get] maybe 100 kids on Halloween. Five to ten percent of them [were teenagers], not a lot,” Baumann said. “Sometimes they don’t [dress up], but when they do… I don’t know if that’s a joke or not. I’m not sure if they’re seriously wearing it because they really like, for example, Hulk or something, or they’re just making a joke. Sometimes they’re not even wearing a costume, and that’s because they don’t need to. They pretty much get candy anyway.”
Gregory agrees and thinks teenagers are just trick or treating for the candy, not for dressing up.
“I think they’re just still going out to get candy, but I won’t give candy to anybody who doesn’t dress up,” Gregory said. “If somebody comes looking like they just came from school, I won’t give them anything. They’re always like hobos or basically easy costumes, but I’ll give candy [to bad costumes], too. If they’re willing to go out in public looking like that, that’s their business.”