Halloween, a day of festivals, activities, eating candy, scary costumes and decorations. The most common activity on Halloween is trick or treating; when children go out in costumes, knock on doors, and get free candy. There is a point where one stops going trick or treating; the question is when is that point? Students in high school often stop going trick or treating and begin to go to Halloween parties and haunted houses with friends. At McIntosh high school most students think that high schoolers are not too old to trick or treat.
While most students say they can trick or treat, they usually don’t. One might never be too old to trick or treat, but everyone comes to a point where it is just not fun to trick or treat anymore, or perhaps it is still fun but we tend to follow the crowd and usually, the crowd won’t go out to participate in this activity very much. Sophomore ,August Moss, says high schoolers are “never too old for free candy.” Many agree with August, like Senior Shazan Samnani who says, “Of course not! They can trick or treat as much as children.
Trick or treating was a huge part of most Americans’ childhoods. Saying one is never too old to trick or treat is a way of being able to hold on to our childhoods for one more year. Susan Flynn Love, mother of Freshman Elenor Love says “No. stay a kid while you can!” Holding on to our childhood is something that we all do because childhood was so fun and innocent and easy. Most teenagers, while still able to trick or treat, don’t do it very much, maybe just one or two houses, just enough to get some decent candy. It’s easy to trick or treat at a couple houses, and something one can fit between their plans.
Some students at McIntosh disagree such as Senior Ariel Faulise who when asked whether or not high schoolers were too old said,” unfortunately yes.” As much as we attempt to hold on to those good years, we all change, so most teenagers will not go trick or treating but children, our siblings, and cousins, will.
According to statista.com In 2021 65% of people said they will be participating in trick or treating this year. This is opposed to 2017’s 71% of people going trick or treating. This decrease is probably due to the pandemic.
Children under 13 usually go out trick or treating with friends and parents, High Schoolers, in general, tend to do other activities on Halloween for example, hanging out with friends, going to parties and watching horror movies.
Senior Ethan Franklin says “I’m going to watch the shining or other Friday the 13th films”
And Shazan Samani says he is going to “eat candy.”
Many students also plan to go to parties, because as a child grows up we tend to want to be a part of social interactions. So as a teenager, it just seems more fun to be around friends partying or watching scary movies.
It’s perfectly ok to go trick or treating on Halloween, at any age. Of course, there comes that time when a person stops the trick or treating and begins to open doors or bring younger kids out trick or treating. Halloween is a tradition that many have participated in for a long time, and it’s important to keep traditions like this alive. High schoolers might not go trick or treating but younger children will, and then they get to have fun experiences like teenagers today did. Lizzie Ermolave, a freshman at Mcintosh Highschool says “Trick or treating could be us trying to golf on to our childhoods, but I’m doing it to keep my younger brothers childhood alive.” Maybe high schoolers pass this well-loved tradition down to those younger than us so they can have these amazing childhood experiences. There is no official age limit to Halloween activities like trick or treating, but there is a time when people just stop to participate in these activities in the ways they used to. As students grow older, it gets harder and harder to change, however trick or treating doesn’t have to be something that changes if we don’t want it to.
Sophomore Yatziri pluma Pluma says “ I am going trick or treating, I don’t think it has an age limit, my childhood was an important time in my life, I think it’s cool that I get to keep a little bit of it each year as I grow up.”