Confessions Of An Adult Trick-Or-Treater//October 31st, 2022

 Something you may or may not have known about me, but possibly suspected: 

I trick-or-treated until I was way past the age that society seems to deem “too old”.

And, since every October, the question of “How old is ‘too old’?” seems to come back around, I thought I’d share my experiences, in defense of those “big kids” who may come around on Halloween night.

As you obviously know if you know me at all, Halloween is my absolute life, and has more or less been such since my first experience with trick-or-treating at the age of four. Trick-or-treating was a magical thing to me, as a kid whose parents set strict bedtimes and very rarely ventured out for more than typical mundane tasks. It was just such a deep contrast to the rest of my life in my childhood, that it quickly became my favorite thing to do. Perhaps Halloween became my favorite holiday because every other aspect of my life was just boring, but I digress. 

Anyway, I waited with bated breath for Halloween every single year from the time I was four on. As I got a little older, I know the thought occurred to me that there comes a point when you’re not supposed to trick-or-treat anymore, but I never gave it much thought, despite my tendencies to overthink. Aging out of Halloween was something that couldn’t, and wouldn’t, happen to me.

I believe I was fourteen the first time the subject of when I would stop trick-or-treating came up. My response was something along the lines of, “Well, I’m still a kid until I turn eighteen.” I think my relatives were shocked that I was so adamant about Halloween, even when it was brought up to me that I could potentially run into bullies and only fuel their fire if they saw me all dressed up for Halloween. I was completely undeterred. I thought, if my peers wanted to give up Halloween, that was their prerogative, but I felt I was under no obligation to do so, at least until I hit legal adulthood. Over time, my family mostly dropped it. Even the relatives who thought it was weird, I think just knew better than to try to harass me about it. Halloween was just always such a part of me. I could never be talked out of it.

As I got older, and should have started “aging out” of trick-or-treating, I started to realize just how limited my options were, to do other things to celebrate my favorite holiday. I was never a person who partied. Even if I’d had massive amounts of friends, the idea of going to some big party never appealed to me, and also, odds are parties would be held on the weekends, not Halloween night itself unless it fell on a Friday or Saturday. I can’t do haunted attractions with live actors, and even if I could, I didn’t know of any around my area at the time anyway. We got extremely minimal amounts of trick-or-treaters in my actual neighborhood…the last Halloween before my family moved, I believe we had two, maybe three sets of kids. So, dressing up to pass out candy was out of the question. My financial situation at the time didn’t permit me to go on any major trips. And, as fun as it can be to stay in and watch movies, to me that’s not a fulfilling way to spend the actual night of Halloween. It’s more something that I do throughout the year to try and give myself that Halloween feeling. 

So, as long as I had someone willing to go with me, I continued to trick-or-treat, on and off, but mostly on, well into my twenties. And, while I didn’t know the exact ages of everyone else I encountered who clearly wasn’t an actual child, I certainly wasn’t the only one in my area!

I suppose I should consider myself lucky to have grown up in an area where no one really seemed to care the ages of the people who knocked on their doors. No, you didn’t see elderly people out or anything like that, but teenagers were probably made up the vast majority of the trick-or-treating population where I grew up. No one looked twice at you for being tall or even driving yourself around. That’s just the way it was. And, while it was a little intimidating when I was a small child, I definitely appreciated it once I got older, especially once I found out that some towns had actual ordinances in place, and legal action could be taken against trick-or-treaters over the age of twelve. This was an absolutely sickening thought to me, not only when it came to myself, but for any “big kid” out there who may be in a similar position.

While I can understand being cautious in this day and age, it always bothers me, in any situation, when society tries to put an age limit on fun. I’m not saying I don’t understand why adult trick-or-treaters, or even older teens, may be off-putting to some people, but if you’re dealing with someone who’s clearly just out for the love of Halloween and trying to have a good time, be kind. This could be the highlight of someone’s year. Always remember you never know what someone else is going through or what their life is really like. Just because you may not understand why someone chooses to do a certain thing, doesn’t mean it’s wrong to do so, as long as no one is getting hurt. Holidays should be for everyone, and everyone has the right to celebrate whatever holidays are their favorites. It’s hard enough to get through our days sometimes, without someone trying to tell you you're wrong for just being yourself and trying to have fun. 

So, if a "big kid" comes to your door this Halloween night, be kind. Halloween is, ultimately, for everyone. There are a lot worse things people could be doing, then simply trying to have a little fun on what is probably their favorite night of the year. 

Stay spooky, my friends. And have a spooktacular Halloween!