The air is cold and the moon is high on this long-awaited night. The streets are littered with candy wrappers, costumes, and spider webs. Flocks of children run from door to door, hoping to snag one of their favorite king-sized candy bars. Yet among these kids is one group only some notice – the teenagers. Also dressed up, also carrying candy buckets, also going door to door, but much older than the rest of the crowd.
Some may consider this strange and out of the ordinary, while others just see teens as more kids in search of candy and a good time. The question arises every year, and every year there is no true consensus reached. At what age does trick-or-treating stop being cute and start becoming questionable?
Trick-or-treating is not the most common way for a teenager to spend their Halloween night, but it still happens. There will always be those who decide that they want to dress up, hang out with friends, and go on a candy hunt on the one night where it may still be socially acceptable.
Many students here at Davie High who still partake in this spooky tradition, though some face judgement from older individuals who believe they’ve aged out. Junior Evie Conlin spends her Halloween on a search for sugar, and believes that it is perfectly okay for others to do so as well.
“I think all ages should be allowed to go trick-or-treating. It’s something good from our childhood that we can continue to keep in our lives,” Conlin explains. “We’ll always have memories of being able to dress up however we want and no one would care.”
Still, she admits that some ruin it for others and give the age group a bad name “when teenagers start to be mean about things or dress in inappropriate costumes or scare little kids and act dumb.”
Not everyone will be making their rounds this Halloween, but instead will be choosing to do something else with their time. However, this doesn’t mean that they support banning teenage trick-or-treating.
Junior Addie Brown has long since retired her candy bucket, but agrees that there shouldn’t be a limit to those who have not. “Even though I don’t go trick-or-treating anymore, I think it’s okay for kids our age to,” Brown says.
Typically, children have been shown to stop the tradition sometime in middle school, making older trick-or-treaters stand out more. A poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University shows that the average American thinks the cut-off age should be about 13.5 years old. The societal pressure of that expected cutoff may contribute to the cutoff itself, as many teens may stop out of fear of scrutiny or embarrassment.
Despite this, Brown believes that everyone should take part in the Halloween tradition as long as they want to, saying, “I think the cut-off age should be around 12 or 13, but that is only because that is around the age that kids don’t really wanna go anymore.” Ultimately, she believes that there is no issue with teens partaking as long as they still express interest.
The debate was sparked as the holiday grew closer each passing day in October, frequently appearing in side conversations around classrooms where teachers couldn’t help but overhear. Luckily for them, Davie teachers tend to share a similar view, typically seeing no issue with how their students choose to spend their Halloween night.
In fact, several teachers encourage the activity to allow kids to experience their childhoods before moving on into adulthood. Science teacher Jason Ward says that there is “nothing wrong with wanting to relive that sense of community and nostalgia.”
“As long as teens are respectful, polite, and not causing trouble, I don’t think there needs to be a strict age cut-off,” Ward added.
Overall, it seems that people at Davie generally agree that teenagers are not too old to trick or treat. Though some may think so, most agree that as long as they are respectful, it is perfectly okay to continue this childhood tradition. Throwing on a costume and carrying a bucket filled to the brim with candy is part of the Halloween experience. One that can last throughout your entire childhood, not just the younger years.
