I don’t think there’s any harm in letting your daughter go out with her friends and celebrate Halloween as long as it’s an age-apppropriate party with at least some neighborhood adult supervision, and yeah, definitely costumes! I wish they had thrown Halloween block parties in my neighborhoood when I was a kid!
Halloween is and has always been my favorite holiday. I trick-or-treated until I was 20 years old, but I guess I’m kind of wacky. I could usually persuade at least one weirdo buddy to go with me. The people in my neighborhood knew me so I guess it didn’t seem too odd. Also, I always had really good handmade costumes.
I stopped at 21 because I discovered Halloween parties at bars where not only was everybody dressed in costumes, but I could drink. Better or worse, who knows? But that’s the way it went. Please understand that I am not recommending that young people go to bars.
I don’t remember when I stopped trick-or-treating, but I suspect it was probably when I was around 12 or 13.
I’m terrible at guessing children’s ages, so I never really tried to judge whether anyone who came to my door was “entitled” to any candy…as long as they were in some sort of costume. I particularly didn’t mind the one year when I opened the door and found myself looking at a quartet of females who were all displaying significant amounts of cleavage.
I did, however, barely restrain myself from saying “Want some candy, little girls?”
When I still lived where I got trick-or-treaters, anyone in costume got a treat.
Some of my favorite costumes were group ones with the grown-ups included like the cast of Gilligan’s Island with the grown-ups as Mr and Mrs Howell and the Skipper and the kids (including a late teenager as Gilligan) as the rest of the cast or Dorothy, the Lion and the Tin Man with the dad as the Scarecrow. The adults in the groups worked hard in getting into the spirit of the thing. They were welcome to fun-sized bars at my house (hadn’t thought of giving them beer or wine though )
I’m glad she’s going, Dung Beetle. I figure as long as my teenager wants to dress up and TOT, as opposed to the teens that don’t want to dress up but would rather thug around all night in packs terrorizing small children and stealing their candy, well then TOT away!
Rather than be ticked about oodles of kids being bussed into my neighborhood, cuz we’re one of those “good” subdivisions that attracts extras, I’m just glad I live here. Where they live is sucky, since any place that doesn’t have good Halloween participation must be, one day a year I can hand out a few cents worth of candy and feel blessed that I don’t live somewhere sucky.
I scored my 14 year old a biker-type leather jacket at a garage sale this summer for $20. He’s thrilled and has put together an entire Ghostrider costume based on the jacket. It’s been fun watching him get creative and try and figure out what to wear.
One year my aunt came up from LA and we dressed up and went out. She was a gorilla, my mother a witch and I a clown. I think I was seventeen at the time which made them forty one and fourty five at the time.
We had a blast and every house we went to thought it was great.
I was so happy when we moved here last year as we could give out candy. Were I used to live no children came down our out of the way, badly lit, ten houses on the entire dead end street.
We had kids of all ages and even the older ones at least attempted some sort of costume. It was fun for me and fun for them. I mean it is just candy so what is the big deal.
And I have to confess I “bussed” my kids several streets over from where we lived due to the above mentioned street we lived on.
Oh and October babies are cool. I have one myself that is turning seventeen tomorrow.
TOT is a difficult subject for me, as I love it and I love being there for my kids. That said, even if I sneak out of work 5 min early and drive competitively, I can’t get to the house to give out treats until 7pm. This means I miss all the young kids, and half the kids / parents in the neighborhood think we don’t give out candy and they’ll give my kids and I the Stink Eye later that night when I take them around.
Also, given that one parent always has to be there to give out candy when you’re TOTing (its only fair and ‘take one’ never works in my neighborhood), the whole event is delayed by the weakest link in the chain, which is which highway has the worst traffic coming home.
But that said, when I’m handing out candy, its not the age of the TOTers that is a concern; its the time of night. We turn off the porch light before 10pm, but there are always groups of kids who pound on the door after 10 and after the porch light is out. WTF!?
Fine, I’m a Grumpy Old Man (and get off my lawn) but if you are acting like a Home Invasion Crew, exactly why would you expect me to open my door?
Screw it, you’re never too old. I’ve gone TOTing in my 20s and 30s. I generally dress up all day long (And yes, I’ve gone to business meetings and on sales calls in costume), MOST people are cool with it and those who aren’t…fuck 'em if they can’t take a joke.
I “quit” trick-or-treating somewhere around 7th grade, but then again a group of four friends and I went my freshman year of college dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters an d pulled it off pretty well.
My beard added a little something to the ‘march hare’ costume I’d say
Dung Beetle, I think it’s A-OK for your daughter to go out TOTing. I agree with “no need to grow up so fast” crowd.
I stopped going trick or treating the year I turned 13. Halloween then became more about haunted houses and teen-style Halloween parties. But you know … even after having enjoyed adult Halloween celebrations as bars or what not … the years spent TOTing were the most fun Halloweens I ever spent. Never really could recapture that feeling of excitement. My daughter is 4 this year, so I’m getting to re-experience it vicariously just a little bit.
Something about women on Halloween. The love to dress all sexy and nasty.
I can get a bit board by the tenth princess or Darth Vader. But I could see 100’s of women in sexy cat/nurse/devil outfits all night.
Whatever for real I don’t care even though my neighborhood get almost no trick or treaters if they did all are welcome. I would pass out candy to grown adults and late teens all night for the fun of it.
I went trick-or-treating for the last time as a senior in high school. My friends and I did, however, take our younger siblings around in the early evening then dropped them off hit some more houses (walking to one of our houses) then we would have a Halloween “slumber party” if it was a Friday or Saturday night. We would watch bad B horror flicks, sort out the candy and stay up all night.
We never had people refuse us candy because we weren’t little kids. In fact most people thought it was really cool. We always had costumes.
In college I dressed up for Halloween parties, but no TOT was involved.
I get depressed now. I have lived in my house for 5 years now. We have had a grand total of 2 trick or treaters. Most likely because 90% of the people who live in my town-home neighborhood are over 60 and don’t hand out candy. I live in the back of the development. Most people probably just see that there are no lights on and don’t even bother. I do usually have the light on and a bag of candy available in case some kids come around.
I stopped trick-or-treating about the time I was old enough to tell my parents I was going out trick-or-treating but in reality was going out screwing around with friends and getting into trouble. Ah, those were the days.
I wish they had thrown Halloween block parties in my neighborhoood when I was a kid!
Most likely because 90% of the people who live in my town-home neighborhood are over 60 and don’t hand out candy. I live in the back of the development. Most people probably just see that there are no lights on and don’t even bother. I do usually have the light on and a bag of candy available in case some kids come around.