Every year since it was made a holiday in the early 20th century, children go out on October 31st and spend hours walking around the neighborhood picking up different candy. This is a core memory for every kid who celebrates this holiday and becomes an event they look forward to every year. Despite this, there are always an extremely large number of adults that decide to take advantage of going around house to house for free candy. This can lead to negative effects on kids who want to go trick-or-treating. People over the age of 18 should not go on Halloween to trick or treat.
Trick-or-treating was designed for children. People see the activity as a time for kids to dress up in costumes, go door-to-door, and collect candy. Little kids like candy and aren’t as exposed to it as older people, so this makes them extremely excited and take lots of joy in it. Adults doing it just to grab free candy takes away from the experience for younger children.
Grown adults trick-or-treating takes advantage of the generosity of homeowners. According to the Miami Herald, 46% of Americans plan to pass out candy. Homeowners often prepare for trick-or-treaters by buying candy and decorating their homes to see smiles on the faces of the kids that come to their door. When adults participate, it makes the homeowners feel extremely uncomfortable and catches them very off guard. Some people giving out candy even refuse to give it to the adults when they show up.
Moreover, adult trick-or-treating can be inappropriate. Some kids may feel weird or even scared by adults dressed in costumes, especially if they are dressed in an inappropriate costume not meant for kids to see. When i was a kid, a man in his 20’s was in my neighborhood running towards me and many other kids as a joke, but it made me scared to go outside for another hour. This same thing happens in many other communities and can traumatize little kids for a long time.
However, there are other ways for adults to celebrate Halloween. Many people throw parties, where people still get to dress up in costumes, and eat delicious halloween candy, without having to go trick-or-treating. You can even go to a local haunted house or pumpkin patch, to really get into the Halloween spirit.
People over the age of 18 who should be at parties and family gatherings are instead going out and ruining the holiday of halloween for so many children and homeowners. It’s disrespectful to many people and there are many other ways to experience the spooky mood other than trick-or-treating. Hence why this experience that was made for children should stay for children.
