With Halloween finally upon us and the “Halloweekend” parties coming to an end, high school students are figuring out what to do with their friends on Oct. 31. 

Littered in among the options: trick-or-treating. 

But, as we get older, it raises the question: should high school students still trick-or-treat?

For trick-or-treating: Eyesha Sadiq

Growing up, one of my favorite traditions was trick-or-treating. I love dressing up and going house-to-house with buckets full of candy, becoming more tired as the night goes on. Seeing other kids in their costumes, along with everyone sharing the same exact goal, is unforgettable.

As I entered high school, I realized that fewer of my friends were trick-or-treating, and more were going to Halloween parties. When sharing my trick-or-treating plans with my friends, I was told that I was too old to be participating, and that “only kids trick-or-treat.”

I understand that trick-or-treating has a stigma, and that it is meant for younger children; however, there isn’t an actual “age” limit. No matter who comes to the door, parents are most likely going to give them candy. Halloween is a time for teenagers to relive their childhood memories. Society is fast paced and with an increase of technology use, teenagers are forced to grow up faster than they truly need to. If they enjoy walking around the neighborhood with their friends searching for candy, then they should. It shouldn’t matter if they are 8 or 16.

Walking around neighborhoods and speaking to people I have never talked to before builds a sense of community. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoy seeing the decorated houses. There are multiple traditions that people keep up with throughout their lives and pass them down to their children: trick-or-treating shouldn’t be any different.  

Trick-or-treating comes once a year, and only lasts a few hours. As someone who only has two years of her childhood left, I want to enjoy trick-or-treating while I can. There will always be  Halloween parties into adulthood, but trick-or-treating only happens while you are still a kid.

Against trick-or-treating: Krista Fleming

Halloween, like most other holidays, is for children. 

Going out to trick-or-treat, eyes gleaming as the door opens and the candy gets dropped in a slowly-growing basket, is a moment of magic. It is also a moment for children, one that, no matter how hard someone tries, can not be replicated past a certain age. As high school students begin to make the transition from childhood to adulthood, we must give up some of those traditions and let the next generation take our place. 

One of those traditions is trick-or-treating. 

In some areas, such as Chesapeake, Virginia and Upper Deerfield Township of New Jersey, there are laws regarding the cutoff ages for trick-or-treaters. While most of these laws restrict trick-or-treating at 14 or 15, some, like Upper Deerfield Township, New Jersey, make the cutoff age as young as 12. These governments are listening to their people, as 50% of a live poll registering approximately 12.8 thousand voters, said people should stop trick-or-treating between the ages of 14 and 18 — the average age of a high school student. 

A large part of the reason high school students trick-or-treating is frowned upon is the distrust they’ve built up over the years. Houses being egged on Halloween is all too common, with police forces urging a ban on egg sales for the Halloween season. This, paired with the past instances of the killer clown pranks and drugging candy, proves that not all of our generation can be trusted. Trick-or-treating may be fun, but through their violent pranks, teenagers have given society every reason to scrunch their nose when they see high school students trick-or-treating. 

I understand that the absence of trick-or-treating feels like a loss of childhood, but it’s also the gain of a new Halloween. There are plenty of things to do instead of trick-or-treating, such as gathering with your friends, watching movies or handing out candy. 

As high school students, we’re beginning to grow up, and it’s time to pass the door-to-door torch to the next generation.