In your opinion, what's the age limit for Trick r Treating?
My sister is 23 and still dresses up and goes out knocking doors for candy... and I find it weird but I let her do her. It got me thinking, at what age do you think someone should stop Trick r Treating at? Just curious.
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
Good on your sister for not losing track of what makes her happy. Not doing things just because they are "childish" is the most childish trait an adult can display.
THATS the rest of the quote!!?! Ha. Man I’ve always just heard it stop at “ childish things”. Makes more sense now
Actually no, Lewis is parodying the Bible: https://www.biblehub.com/1_corinthians/13-11.htm
The Bible quote does say that, but he's poking fun at it by saying "why so serious?"
You heard it that way because that's because that's the end of 1 Corinthians 13:11:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
C.S. Lewis is playing off of a Bible quote and that became its own thing.
The rule is, if you dress up you get candy. I don't care how old you are, but you have to be dressed up.
I always end up over buying and want that candy GONE! No age restrictions for me either.
The key to buying Halloween candy is to buy the things you would want to eat yourself. We freeze the leftovers and slowly eat them. Still working on last years!
I make an exception for parents watching their young kids. I have no problem rewarding good, responsible parents.
Plus, we give out juice boxes. Sometimes, when parents see their kids walking away with juice boxes, they’ll ask for one themselves. Walking around the neighborhood with kids is thirsty work! I’ll happily give juice to parents!
"I'm Backwards-Jacket Guy!"
I hate the idea that older kids shouldn't do it. Like I remember getting shit when I decided to be kid-like again at 15 after not having done it when I was 13 and 14.
Houses told me I was too old. And looking back now, as a parent of teens, and I wish they and their friends were just going out trick r treating. I will definitely encourage any kid I see. And at my age anyone under 26 is a kid, easily. I'd much rather kids do something communal and fun than just go out drinking. I'm sure that by the next Halloween when I was 16 I was probably doing something less good than asking for free candy.
If we want people to be communal, have fun, and be safe then we shouldn't give them shit when they do that. So I don't care if the old dude down the streets dons a skeleton costume and grabs a pillow case. If he has a costume, he gets candy. And anyone who tells me different will get called out for being a killjoy.
I think getting older means they can do some pretty cool stuff with their costumes. I see nothing wrong with it, it's a massive outdoor party.
Risky to tell them they're too old. Teenagers are full of mischief, they don't get the treat and you get the trick -- eggs on your front door!
As long as you're wearing a costume, I don't care how old you are. You'll get a treat.
I’d be super happy with no upper limit on age.
What I definitely have is an attitude limit; I loathe it when sullen teenagers knock the door, mutter “trckotrt”, no dress up except someone has drawn a tear on their face and then grabs five portions of candy and just dashes out.
Like, you can be fucking 40 for all I care, but you squeal “triiick of treaaaat”, then I say “wow, aren’t your costumes great” and offer the bowl up. You then grab one large or a couple of small things, say thank you and walk off excitedly.
The requirement for me is that you look like you’re enjoying it. Otherwise, why am I opening the door to strangers and offering them sweets?
This.
As you age, trick or treat should be more like wasseling, where we wander the local hood, check in the people we should see more often, share candy back and forth and agree that Mr Stewart in #10 is a bit of a dick.
It should keep a more social aspect with less candy as we mature as social adults. Parents should take older kids to mature them a bit.
That's a neat concept. I'd like that
I give candy to parents with costumes. Knock on my door, say trick or treat, and you get candy. Them's the rules.
I also give adults I know beer or seltzer.
If you don't give a treat, you risk getting tricked.
Yep. If you show up to my door with a costume, you're getting candy. Age is an afterthought if at all.
We do full-sized candy bars, but we also have small candy for when we run out of full-sized ones. Last year I had an adult that was not in costume take the last full-sized one, unwrap it, and bite into it right in front of us. I don't care if you take a little one for yourself, but the full-sized bars are for the kids. You can buy your own damn full-sized candy bars.
If it makes her happy, why do you care? I assume that most people do "childish" things despite their age because it makes them happy.
Age limitation on trick-or-treaters is an inherently fascist concept and will be trashed when the revolution happens.
Comrade 🤝
There's no age limit. Adulthood isn't about not being whimsical it's about being whimsical and not caring that losers are judging you for being happy
It's better that teenagers are out collecting candy and not committing mischief.
They should do both
If someone has the confidence to dress up and ring my doorbell, they’re getting candy and positive vibes from me.
No age limit in this household. I'd say "just show up with a bag," but I just gave treats so some 4yo with no bag. If an adult asked? They'd get them.
I just want to be kind. I wasn't allowed to trick or treat as a kid. I did as a teen, and you know what? Nobody cared how old our group was. We got candy like the rest of them. God bless those neighbors.
And God bless Halloween.
I stopped trick-or-treating at 11 or so when I became self-conscious and had some depression/introvert stuff happen. Sometimes I'm sad that I stopped so early in my childhood. I just want people to know that I love them and want them to be happy and have fun.
I don't give a fuck how old you are. Are you having fun and want some candy?!
I like this comment very much. Thank you for sharing.
Okay, rant time. If you don't like rants, skip this comment.
Listen motherfuckers, Halloween isn't about candy. The fact that the candy has become the point is a fucking problem.
We've lost the social cohesion, the sense of community, and even the superstitions that made Halloween such a popular holiday.
And that fucking sucks.
Nobody really believes we're scaring off bad spirits any more, but we could at least celebrate the weird, the scary, and just spend one night a year dressing up for fun.
Fuck the candy. The only reason we have to give out candy is because assholes fucked up being able to give out home made treats. Man, did any of y'all have the fucking awesomeness of getting candy coated apples, or home made fudge, or wax paper wrapped cookies? Or anything but the sugar bombs in a bag you buy? But no, some assholes had to fuck around and break the ability to trust the social contract of Halloween.
Shit, I'm the only asshole in my entire town baking and making things today. Why? Because I'm the only idiot willing to put up a sign on my door "home made treats available on request by adults". Which means I'm the only house on the fucking street that has cars pulling up with kids in them, accompanied by adults. Parents don't let kids walk the streets on Halloween any more because humans are fucking horrible and can't be trusted not to mess with kids. So that means nobody even fucking bothers to hand out anything, they all go to fucking trunk and treat shit, which ends up being about the fucking candy instead of having fun because a bunch of people in parking lots isn't a community.
Fuck. Fuck the assholes that ruined Halloween and turned it into a day for fucking candy.
There's actually a huge amount of trick or treaters here but the thing is they all go to like the very best neighborhoods that go all out and no one wants to go to mid tier neighborhood with only a few houses that are doing things anymore.
I love Halloween. Every other holiday I have to cook, clean, plan. So much work. Halloween? Creativity and candy and kids. Fun, without all the baggage. American Halloween I honestly love.
ETA: we get trick or treaters here, from little kids to teens. Not a suburb or a rich neighborhood. First one today pulled up in a truck and I was about to be judgy, hate the car house to house thing, dad got out, opened the door for his blind daughter who was in a wonder woman costume, helped her up our front steps so she could trick or treat. I love Halloween.
I haven't even had a trick or treater come to my door in probably like 6 years. The 2 or 3 years before that, I was getting no more than 3 visits per year. This is the first year I've just straight up not even bought candy. Halloween is gone. I thought that after covid got under control, maybe there'd be a resurgence since it's an activity that kids can do together with their friends outside of home, meeting other kids and shit, and that was all very much taken for granted until people were stuck inside for two years. But nope. 24/7 news convinced parents that there are drugs and poison and razor blades in their treats, and the houses their kids visit will be inhabited by pedophiles and scary [insert dogwhistle]s, and some lunatic will either commit a mass shooting or drive over as many people as possible. No fun allowed.
We let the terrorists win. The domestic terrorists, specifically. We're afraid of what might happen, and nobody is doing anything to quell those fears, so we just hand over a little more liberty and freedom for the sake of supposed safety and security. What a boring dystopia.
Wait… people are still trick or treating??
Then we need a PR campaign to motivate adults to break out of the spiral of fear they've fallen into.
Make Halloween a left or a right wing thing. Frame it in terms that celebrating Halloween follows and honors the values of each political tribe, and not celebrating it violates those core values.
How generous of you.
but I let her do it.
Pretty sure they mean they leave their sister to do as she pleases, and not shaming her for it.
Ya, they didn't even say, "Let her do it," they said, "let her do her," as in "you do you." But it was a clumsy usage of the phrase.
lol right?
I think your Senior year of high school oughta be the cutoff, but I don't have any issues with college students trick or treating, so I think 23 or so would be my candy refusal threshold. This actually reminds me of a story I read a long time ago:
It's Halloween and there's a knock on the door, nothing out of the ordinary, and the person got up and went to the door. When they opened it, they found another door and doorframe up against their door, which read "Please knock for candy", they knocked and were offered candy by some college students who were carrying an entire door and frame around for this bit. I believe it ended with the homeowner refusing candy and giving the college students candy.
So yeah, I need to add an exception to my Halloween code of ethics: An awesome costume / gag can make up for any age.
this is funny. I'd be fine with anyone doing this one.
I stopped at 14. At 23 it’s definitely weird, but whatever. I think it’s unfortunate that our culture shames adults for partaking in controlled mischief aspects of holidays and other such fun holiday traditions.
There's no age limit.
It's an arbitrary cultural custom, with even more arbitrary expectations for who's included. I find it weird when a grown-up comes to your door and it straight up makes certain people angry, but there's no logical reason why it's bad.
No age limit but costume required. At least put on your sister's makeup or brothers overalls or saggy jeans, something. I have turned away kids without costumes but will candy anyone of any age who makes even the weakest attempt at a costume.
Any age that makes the effort to dress up and have fun. If you are not ok with that you need to ask yourself what killed your inner child?
Yeah! I think if you dress up and make an effort you can trick or treat and I don’t mind giving you candy. My partner and I usually go dress up and just wander around in costume and in character to “scare” people and contribute to the atmosphere. We’re obviously in the “too old to trick or treat” category so we don’t actually go and ask for candy and usually give some out while walking around… But people here give out candy waiting outside near the sidewalks, so it’s actually pretty common for us to get a “great costume, want some candy?” Which I totally don’t need and usually decline because I’m in character being spooky (which usually involves not talking), but I appreciate it in the sense that it’s clearly just a night for everybody to have fun and they don’t just see it as a dull social obligation to give out candy just to children.
" I let her do it"
I just assumed that was them leaving off, "without giving her a bunch of shit."
Bullying your siblings isn't just a right but your social obligation sometimes!
None.
Halloween isn't really a thing here, but last year the elderly home organized a Trick or Treating event where everyone was invited, but it was mainly setup to give the elderly a fun activity.
I don't think I've ever seen people enjoy dressing up for Halloween as much as they did.
If it's the end of the evening and you're 47 with no costume and driving a beatup Civic, I'll happily dump candy in your backpack so that I don't have it sitting at home tempting me to eat it.
I need a van to write "Need Candy" on the side. I'll come visit you.
Probably around 90. Might have a hard time after that
Some of the all terrain walkers are pretty impressive.
Dress them up as a spider and I'll give you double candy at my door!
I love the tradition of trick or treating in the neighborhood. I hate that it is dying in some communities (instead going to malls, trunk or treat etc). I happily give candy to anyone who knocks on the door and I don't care how old they are or if it's "late". It's a fun time for everyone.
Happy Halloween QT 👻
They should have a term like Scrooge but for people who hate Halloween instead. It's downright curmudgeonly.
Like I don’t give a shit how old someone is. If you show up in a costume I’m giving you candy. No matter the age. I don’t know why you’d care what she’s doing, how is it hurting you or anyone else?
No age limit, you could literally be 80 at my door in a walker and you'd still get candy.
It's not like Candy is a valuable resource, if they want to dress up to get some M&M's then more power to them.
I used to think there should be an age limit, I think i officially stopped trick or treating at like 13 or 14. I live Halloween though and always did so I dressed up and trotted around with my little siblings to help keep an eye and make sure they were safe and didn't get too scared because we did have a few houses that often provided "tricks" with their treats.
Most of the adults tied to give me candy too even though I wasn't carrying a bag, some flat out refused my attempt at just saying I was chaperoning and not trick or treating. Got told by a few that I dressed up and that's the rules, I got candy without trying just because I wanted to have fun and spend time with my siblings.
I remember a few people giving my dad candy when he took me as a kid because he always dressed up with us. He even stayed back on the walk way as we walked up to the house and the old guy giving out candy yelled out "Hey Wolfman!" my dad looked up as he was dressed as a werewolf and got a reeses thrown to him with additional compliments on his costume.
All this to say is I don't think I'd give any side eye to anyone coming to get some candy, sometimes adults need a little pick me up as well and it just used to be fun seeing all the different costumes and creative stuff people would come up with or randomly scaring a couple older kids just by opening the door with whatever creepy costume I had that year.
Honestly, I don't really set an age limit. I won't judge people who are out for fun. I've been there, there's not much to do around where I live.
That being said though... Regardless of your age, if you costume up, you're likely to get more candy from me. (I'll also offer candy to parents and older siblings who aren't taking part because I'm cool like that. Just don't stick chocolate bars in your pockets LMAO)
Yeah if you have a costume on, that's all I need to know
If you don't have a costume, I'll use the special bowl of candy full of Almond Joy's..
Asking joys are the fucking best, real punishment is Hershey or candy corn/circus peanuts
I feel like there's no age where dressing up and knocking on doors becomes inappropriate. It's fun, it can increase social cohesion in a community, there's no reason for adults not to be a little silly, yadda yadda. Already now it's perfectly acceptable for an adult attending trick-or-treating children to dress up as well, but I think adults alone or in adult groups should be allowed to dress up as well.
But then there's the "asking for candy" part... Now I don't think there's any age where people should stop eating candy, either — but when you have the ability to easily buy (or even make) your own candy, then maybe it'd be a better idea to start giving out your candy to the houses you knock on, if you still want to go out in costume.
I dunno, just a thought. I wouldn't tell your sister to stop, though. We're all a little weird at the end of the day.
I agree with you.
As long as the adult trick-or-treater isn't excessively drunk/high, being pushy/grabbing too much candy, or otherwise ruining it for the kids, who cares?
I’d just be happy she has a costume on. Around here we get grown adults with no costumes asking for candy with their kids. I guess I enable them because I don’t want to call them out in front of their own kids, but come on.
18/20 because after that you ought to be able to be a candy-giver. This whole thing only works if we have enough candy-givers, and too late of a cutoff age skews the balance.
How is a 20 year old gonna be a candy giver? Do you get handed a home at 18 where you live?
Is there some rule I wasn't aware of that you must own a home in order to give out candy on Halloween?
At 18, you presumably live SOMEWHERE. Nothing stopping you from giving out candy at that residence.
Note: this is not an endorsement that you shouldn't be allowed to trick or treat at 18. Simply pointing out that your specific argument is bullshit.
On your Halloween after turning 18, the first house you knock on is obligated to give you the keys.
When did it become a rule that you have to be a home owner to hand out candy on Halloween? Where I live, anyone can give out candy on Halloween, even renters and guests.
I've heard of people doing both on the same night. Some people like seeing costumes and some like wearing them. It doesn't matter how old you are, do what you'd like and it will balance out.
The older you are, the more effort I expect. A kid can get away with a cape and a mask. If an older teen comes, I expect full costume, not everyday clothes. Adult? You better be rocking a great cosplay. Not that I'd refuse anyone, but I'll be happiest giving treats to young children or people showing off really amazing effort in the costume department.
No age. Anyone against fun social traditions is a jerk and a loser. I stand by my word.
There is no age limit. I will give candy to anyone in a costume that is trick or treating.
Honestly? Do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone or being a dick. Wanna put on a spooky costume and go ask the neighbours for candy? Please be my guest and I hope you have such a fun time. I guess you might get some funny looks but like, that's on them, not you. This doesn't even just apply to trick or treating.
You're never too old to enjoy something. The world is miserable enough, have ice cream for dinner once, go trick or treating, learn to ride a bike, have a sleepover with your friends, or do none of those things if you wouldn't derive joy from them.
The key is to not invite them in, silly. But, then again, who would be inviting trick 'r treaters in? Eh, it's late, don't mind me...
In my area, it is less age and more size. Someone that is large scares more people than a small person. I was large so stopped early, but a small woman with a mask could go quite a long time.
As a timid tall person, this comment hit me in the feels. I don't like being intimidating, but there's not much I can do about it. And so many people comment about my height like it's a great thing, but sometimes I just want to be small.
Go as a tree. People will love it.
When I was 18, I took my little brother trick or treating. I'm short (and a woman), he's tall. Everyone asked him if he was too old to be out, but nobody questioned me.
If you are an adult, and clearly an adult, then it's probably too old.
I'll still give you candy if I answer the door, but that is probably where you might creep some people out, or they give creeper vibes and don't trust answering the door.
That said, in my own experience, you are too old to trick or treat once you pass about 5'6" (~165 cm).
I remember finding out I was too old. After an event, some friends wanted to go trick or treating. I was in high school still, but just shy of 6 feet. Female friend the same age was just over 5', and another female friend that was a few years older was about 4'9".
Anyways, they trick or treated fine, and I got stares, and clearly treated differently. Clearly trick or treating is not about age, but perceived age. (and effort. If you're short and all covered up in your costume, no one will know or care... long as your voice isn't boss baby)
When you have a place to live and can afford a bucket of candy, I think it is an obligation to everyone who wants this tradition to continue to stay at home (yours or someone else if youre having a halloween party) and give out candy to the kids and compliment their costumes.
But other than that, nah, no age limit as long as you can still say thanks and enjoy it.
when i was 13 or so i noticed the looks of the faces of the people giving out candy went from happy to annoyed. It may have also been my low effort costume but that was my last year
I think I was 15 or 16, trick or treating with my little brothers. A guy on a porch told me it was disgraceful to be a teenager trick or treating and asked why I wasn't doing something with a girl instead.
That guy was definitely totally wrong and out of line, but it did make me realize that I don't particularly enjoy going to people's houses and giving them the opportunity to say shit like that. So now I buy candy whenever I want.
We have like 4 children in our neighbourhood. If an adult showed up at my door in costume, I'd be thrilled to get a visitor, give them candy and offer them booze (it's also common in my area for homes to offer drinks to parents who are chaperoning their kids).
On a similar note, when my son was about 7, my girlfriend at the time (who was 28) came with us in costume and and went up to houses with him with a candy bag and collected treats. The first couple houses, I actually felt like "this is a little embarrassing" but people just gave her candy and alcohol and I was like "You know what, this is fun!" I realized I was being a stiff adult and should just get over myself (a beer and a couple cup of hot cider with whiskey didn't hurt my attitude either).
it's funny when teenagers show up but you wouldn't want it to be exclusively teenagers.
No such thing as an age limit.
It was never a "kid's only" holiday to begin with. It just became associated with that over time.
In Mexico, there are two dates for "trick or treat". One is for kids (the Day of the Holly Innocents All the Saints) and the next day is for Day of the dead or Día de Muertos, which is for everyone, in a clearly adult-centric celebration. The treats in the first day are candy-like, in the second day it's very-Mexican-food-like.
Ask your sister which one would she celebrate. The rightest answer is both, the right is one or the other, the wrong is none.
Also, if she's watching after some kids, that's great and deserves a treat. Ultimately, as this post and comments suggests, it all depends on the people's heart.
I would put together a costume if it meant I could go trick-or-treating and get tamales and empanadas instead of candy.
That's extra cool, tbh. We have our own traditional costumes but regular people are only required to pay respects to the dead to be invited some tamales, home-made bread and all kinds of things. See, the thing is you are invited to eat whatever the dead loved to eat and drink. So, put together each home with their own dead people, this amazing Mexican gastronomy and some homes mixing their ancestry with other cultures (I'm loosely related to a Mexican-Chinese family, for example), it can be pretty wild in the stomach, but just marvelous.
Yes, this sounds potentially awesome.
Depends on the area around here 12-13 years old
As long as your neighbors know you, any age is fine, just have fun and be happy don't worry about what other people think, just be mindful and empathetic and don't make people nervous
Yeah, fair enough. :)
Halloween is all but dead in my area, Seattle Washington. Only pockets of neighborhoods put up decoration. If you are able to get to my front door I don't care what you're wearing or how you got there. You get a treat. Anyone elitist with this is literally helping to kill the spirit of Halloween. The holiday hardly exists, stop trying to kill it more.
Although no trick or treat involved, I feel the same about Christmas decorations in neighborhoods. When I moved to the states in my prep teen years, I remember the sheer amount of decorations everywhere and I was beautiful to see and experience. No if feels 1 out of 10 houses put up decorations. I'm not even a Christian and I enjoyed seeing them so I think of it as more cultural than religious
@JSens1998 What's the point of slutty Halloween costumes otherwise? They're not meant for minors.
When your sense of entitlement outweighs your sense of wonder.
What about when my sense of apathy outweighs my sense of giving a shit?
Potatoes for everyone. Or just turn out the lights and pretend no one is home.