# Another species nearing extinction? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 1, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841 "2002-11-01T14:14:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/1 "2002-11-01T14:14:20Z")
We see fewer and fewer Trick or Treaters every year. I think in another decade or so, it will be but a fond memory, but the Mrs. insists it will persist. ---
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/2 "2002-11-01T14:29:49Z")
They didn’t even appear until after WWII. I think the parents don’t want to take a chance and send the little ones out to unknown places. My son was a wee sprout during the Tylenol scare in Chicago. Needless to say, that Halloween was almost non-existent. I think the kids have more fun and are more creative if they do parties and haunted houses. The door-to-door thing is on the way out! ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/3 "2002-11-01T14:44:36Z")
I haven’t seen Girl Scouts selling cookies door-to-door since, I think, 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/4 "2002-11-01T16:22:55Z")
Actually, one of the reasons I stopped buying candy was because each year I would see mothers trucking their kids in from all over and some of these “kids” were quite old. I am now a halloween scrooge. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/5 "2002-11-01T17:25:41Z")
Most of the kids in our town trick-or-treat in the indoor shopping mall. The merchants pass out candy and the kids have a warm, safe place for trick-or-treating. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/6 "2002-11-01T18:08:37Z")
Sad commentary on our society, if you ask me! (what the hell is he talking about?) ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-species-nearing-extinction/134841/7 "2002-11-02T04:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by EchoKitty \* > \*\*They didn’t even appear until after WWII. \*\* My mother, who is now 84, has very clear memories of going trick-or-treating when she was a little kid, living in Queens, NY. That would be in the late 1920s. And in those days, the “trick” part actually meant something - before getting your treat, you were often expected to perform some kind of trick, like turning a cartwheel, doing a little dance step, or something else entertaining.