To old for tricks or treats?

It seems like everywhere I look these days, I see a discussion about whether or not teenagers are "too old" to trick-or-treat. Maybe I’m just remembering the Halloweens of my childhood through pumpkin-colored lenses, but it seemed like there was more tolerance for trick-or-treaters of all ages when I was a kid.

 

It’s true, some older kids don’t really get into the spirit of Halloween—instead of donning costumes and excitement, some teenagers simply wear a smirk, a bag, and a sense of entitlement.

 

But I don’t really get the outright hostility I’ve seen some adults show toward the older kids who just want to dress up and have some fun. “They’re too old for that!” cry the naysayers. Too old for what? Dressing outrageously, wandering around town at night, and eating junk food? Isn’t that what being a teenager is all about?

 

My teenaged nephew still gets excited about trick-or-treating. His costumes are elaborate and 

well-thought-out. And his gratitude for your hard-earned candy is more heartfelt than my nearly-two-year-old’s. But somewhere along the line, we've gotten the idea that Halloween is a holiday for the littlest of tots, and this year, many of my nephew's friend’s parents are putting the nix on the treats and the tricks, so he’ll either have to find a troupe of smaller children to accompany him, or go out alone, into an unfriendly world where many keepers of the candy will judge him not on the size of his Halloween spirit, but the size of his shoes.

 

I feel for the teenaged would-be trick-or-treaters. By this point, most of them have given up on the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, and Halloween is one of the last vestiges of childhood magic they’ve got left.

 

And it’s not like we grown-ups can claim we don’t long for Halloween fun, too. Adults still dress up, but we eat too much junk food and act like children at cocktail parties instead of going from door to door. We don’t want our teenaged kids throwing cocktail parties, so why not let—or even encourage—them to trick-or-treat?

 

Nobody wants to dole out candy to a sullen teen who looks like he couldn’t be bothered to dress up. I get it. But let’s just consider for a moment that the kid who shows up on your door with no costume might just be longing for a bit of that Halloween magic. Maybe he can’t quite bring himself to wear a costume in front of his friends. Maybe he’s just a brat. I don’t really care, frankly. I mean, the kids are asking me for a piece of candy, not a piece of my liver. What’s the big deal?

 

I’m hereby issuing an invitation: my house will be an equal-opportunity candy distributor this October 31. If you show up at my door, you will get a treat, whether you’re two or twenty-two. Just a warning, though: if you’re not wearing a costume, I may require you to do a trick. So come prepared.