With no kids left at home, this Halloween will be different at my house. But this writer captured exactly what happened at my house over these past few, precious last years of kids still at home:
Love this!!! 8-X
Great article. I love the high school trick or treaters that come to my door. They are super polite and appreciative. It’s nice to see them engage in some old school fun. And yes, I give out the big bars.
I agree that the high-school-looking kids are polite and appreciative. And I always silently bless them for holding onto childhood as long as they can. It’s all too fleeting as it is.
From a teen’s perspective, it’s pretty embarrassing.
Remember Shaq was over 6 foot as an 8th grader, so it may not be a high school student.
In 8th grade I was 5’2" and went out in costume with my little brother on Halloween and a little old neighbor lady wouldn’t give me candy. She explained that if she could see at least the top of my head through the lowest of the 3 rectangular diagonal glass panes on her front door, then I was too tall to Trick or Treat.
Boo on her
I went out trick or treating with my boyfriend (now husband of 30 years) when we were 16. What a fun time we had.
When my daughter was in high school, we organized her mock trial team to go out trick or treating. A few of them felt too old for this, but they did all show up in costume ( and what great costumes they were) and had a great time. It’s a fun memory for my daughter.
We’ve handed out candy with some friends who would make any kid over the age of twelve sing a song to get candy. They would accept any song (ABC song to a current pop number) and most of the kids would get over the embarrassment and attempt something. Any kid who gave it a shot would get their candy. After a couple years of doing this, the teens would often have something prepared to sing when they got to their house.
I don’t see what’s so wrong with it. It seems like little kids are going to the mall or some organized event now so there are fewer kids in the neighborhood. I’ll take all the trick or treaters I can get.
We’re not going to be home this year and it makes me sad. We only get about a dozen kids but I still like it; old kids or young.
When I was younger (quite young like 7 or 8), I had a good friend with meningitis who was in the hospital on Halloweeen… which is still to this day her favorite holiday ( in fact she got married on Halloween). So I went around with a bag to collect for her. I explained this to people and got the rudest responses imaginable and few gave me some for her. I ended up giving her all of mine because I’m not a candy fan anyway.
Honestly, Halloween can bring out some of the worst in people and that makes me sad. I give out globs of candy and I don’t care how old you are or what you’re wearing.
Another time a lady made me choose between receiving candy or receiving a few pennies in my “Trick-or-Treat for Unicef” box.
http://www.popthomology.com/2013/10/trick-or-treat-for-unicef-1973.html?m=1
Brings back memories!
@madison85 ^^^ what a sweet story!
We’ve always lived in parts of Seattle where there are large immigrant populations. It’s so much fun to see teenagers wearing random clothes that don’t quite make up a costume saying, “Happy…Trick or Treat?” and the looks of joy on their faces when they get candy. Sometimes they don’t quite understand what T or T is all about, but boy, do they have fun. We give candy to anyone who comes to the door, costume or not, though the last couple of years, we haven’t had that many. I hope we get more this year.
Oh piffle. If you get a lot of trick-or-treaters and like to give out decent candy, it can get pretty costly. I sure don’t want to spend my money to hand out treats to packs of greedy teenagers who can, and do, buy their own candy any time they want and are just looking for a way to entertain themselves for the evening. They also tend to come around later in the evening when I’ve opened the door a bunch of times and just want to call it a night and have my dinner undisturbed. Bottom line, they’re just being a pain in the butt, which I realize is part of a teenager’s job description, but doesn’t have to be at my expense and inconvenience.
To me, Halloween is for kids who are young enough to be thrilled by 1) being out on the street after dark, 2) wearing costumes, and 3) having neighbors and even total strangers handing them treats. None of that applies to teenagers. If teens want to participate in the holiday and hang onto their childhoods or whatever, they can go nuts decorating their yards, host a party, or be the ones to answer the door and ooh and ahh over the little kids’ costumes so their parents can get dinner on the table. And with that I will take my curmudgeonly self to bed!
I miss trick-or-treaters! Just when we got past having to take our son (and we had fun dressing up too, a few years, though we didn’t collect candy - one year he and 2 friends went as Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione, and the grownups were McGonigal, Hagrid, and Madame Trelawney - it was so much fun!), we moved to a neighborhood with no T-or-T activity. I’d happily take a few groups of teens at my door now! But they mostly go to parties and organized events, or head out to a few neighborhoods far from here. I guess there aren’t many little kids around our neighborhood, and the ones that live here must go elsewhere too.
We are the house that gives out full size candy bars. The kids in my area know it and we get a lot of trick or treaters.
They are all thankful and polite.Teens are welcome.
I love it.
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