Yep, I’m 23 and from Berkshire though I wans’t vulgar enough(:p) to go out trick or treating when I was a kid, as far back as I can remember we’ve always had it round our way.
"They say “Trick or treat!”
I say “Trick,” and bring out the fog horn."
Well, I don’t quite get it, after all, if you don’t have a treat, they are supposed to give you a trick, not you give them a trick.
So you could say, ‘trick’ & wait.
He was playing on ‘[you] give us a trick or a treat’, like ‘trick or treat’ was presenting two options for the owner of the door to choose between to fulfill. Yeah.
Well I got one and challenged him–where’s your costume–and this kid (who was not a teenager, maybe 10 or 11) had a spiel, mostly about how he was a product of the military-industrial post-war [several other adjectives] society and da-dee-dum and part of the generation whose social security would go to support me–and he presented it quite well. So he got candy.
He was just as entertaining as one of his cohorts, who was dressed as the Empire State Building.
Hi Folks, I am happy to report that there were no eggs or other signs of “tricks” the next morning. There were only three or four groups uncostumed, usually middle school age and usually pairs of boys. There were quite a few groups of middle school girls in their pjs. My fav was a young couple dressed as a pink lady and a thunder bird from Grease. The cutest baby costume was a bumble bee, and the most clever middle school boy was wearing a large appliance box.
Oh and to be clear, Guin is right. My op wasn’t complaining about the age of the kids who decided to participate, but the fact that some of them are knockin’ doors and begging candy without the costume. The game is to dress up so your neighbors won’t ‘recognize’ you and holler “treat or treat” with enthusiam to beg candy. Not ring the bell and stand sulking with your hand out in your street clothes. I gave candy to everyone who was dressed up or carrying someone dressed up, including young married couples carrying around infants and toddlers clearly not old enough to consume candy.
I do think that high school age is too big for trick or treating, and in fact did not allow my son to do it after he turned 12. I didn’t “deprive” him of holiday treats, but I just wouldn’t let him beg them from neighbors. Instead we’d let him have half a dozen or so buddies over for treats and games and pool and ping pong here.
As far as I could tell I didn’t have any highschool age kids, I would presume they were at the football game (as my son and his friends were) or at get togethers and parties with their friends.
“Buzz off kid” or something of that nature. If they come back or get beligerent, I just take out my knife and flick the blade out. It looks impressive and makes an ominous “click” so they go away. Just not humiliating enough though…maybe next year I’ll find a longer hose so I can run it through the house from the back yard and spray the naughty ones down.
Oh come on now. You’re not going to convince me you would pull a knife on a KID, even as a joke. And all of you who said you’d pull dirty tricks on kids who weren’t in costume need to lighten up. You’d ruin their fun for a stinkin’ twenty-cent piece of candy? Buncha scrooges, if you ask me. Y’all deserve smashed eggs on your porch.
Abby - did your son WANT to continue to trick or treat at 12 and you didn’t let him? See, that bugs me. The Terrible Teen is 13, and she invited a bunch of friends to go out T&Ting with her, then back here for pizza and a “scary” movie. At 9:00 PM, all the boys were picked up, and the girls stayed overnight. One boy - who is very close with this entire group - was not allowed to come because his mother said he was too old for “that sort of thing.” So… he stayed home, while all his friends were out having fun. I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that’s right.
I say Happy Halloween and give them the same candy I give the little darlings in the adorable costumes. We deck out our house so much at Halloween that I feel like I’m a trick or treater magnet. In our neighborhood the teens don’t come out till much later so it’s not like they’re stepping on the toes of the kids who deserve the good loot.
LifeonWry He wasn’t allowed to trick or treat the neighborhood, but he wasn’t forbidden from the fun of the evening. His friends were invited over for burgers on the grill, apple bobbing sort of games, and stick your hand in the slimy pumpkin goo (frankenbrains) and mummy eyeballs (chilled grapes with baby oil) type games as well as the usual game room with pool, ping pong, and fooz ball. There was plenty of bowls of candy for the boys as well as the candy for the T or T’ers that the boys were welcome to help themselves to. They did run around to nearby houses with kids their age or houses where folks were scaring the kids to get in on that action. They hid in our bushes and scared friends their age that came by and played football in the street with a pumpkin as the football until it splattered. As the evening wore on and they were ready for a movie I think they were planning on sacary movie, but it ended up being a star wars marathon.
This arrangement didn’t upset him as it apparently would have you as he wasn’t one to choose to eat a bunch of candy anyway. (I always ended up putting it for them to use when they made their gingerbread houses during Christmas break.) What he wanted was the “fun” part of playing games with friends getting treats and greeting and participating in “scaring” and being “scared” with neighbors and friends.
That’s the way we handled it throughout his middle school years. He’s been invited to parties with friends or had party here while in high school, except this year, when he went to the football game.
The second kid to ring our bell looked to be 15 years old and had no costume and no bag for candy. The exchange went like this:
Him: “Trick or treat.”
Me: “How old are you?”
Him: “Fourteen.”
Me: “What are you supposed to be dressed as?”
Him: “A punk.” (Not the Sid Vicious variety)
Me: “That sounds about right.”
He took one piece of candy and left.
From Friday evening. Two teens dressed in street clothes carrying grocery bags knock.
“So where are your costumes,” I asked.
“I’m dressed as a smoooth dude,” the first answers. Then he points as his side-kick. “He’s going as a dumb-ass.”
I gave them candy. Hey, they did say “Trick or Treat”.
I give out candy to the older ones without saying a word. Then, my wife and I mock them (after shutting the door) because they are, after all, partaking in a child’s activity.
Should high-schoolers have fun? Sure. But I’d no more suggest they trick-or-treat than I would suggest they go sit on Santa’s lap at the mall. It’s not meant for them; let the little ones have their special day.
And yes, I do know that some high-schoolers also sit on Santa’s lap. At our house, we call this type of intentionally-juvenile-for-the-sake-of-being-ironic behavior (like the high school trick-or-treaters) “BKCS,” for “Burger King Crown Syndrome.” This is, of course, because many teens will walk around in public wearing the paper crowns Burger King gives out (which are meant for 5- and 6-year-olds), not because they are carefree youths trying to recapture their childhood, but because they want to look like they are carefree youths trying to recapture their childhood, and thus achieve the desired ironic effect by having people say to them, “Aren’t you a bit old for this?”
Anyway, back to the original question: they all get candy, but the older ones are unknowingly mocked, which is what they really want anyway. So everyone’s happy.
I was always under the impression that the tradition was that the kids played a trick on you. As in “give us candy or we’ll soap your windows”, a sort of blackmail type thing. Not that they have to do monkey-type acrobatics for you, or that you blast them with a fog horn. Back home that’d be playing with fire there. We doled out to save our mailbox and car windows even if it was somone from my chemistry class. Sheesh.
I meant no disrespect, Abby - that’s a whole different kettle of fish than the Terrible Teen’s friend’s mom, who just made him stay home while all his friends were out together. Plus, you say your boy wasn’t that into it anymore, so it seems he had some say in how he spent the evening.
Certainly you all have the right not to give out candy to whomever you don’t want to (and if that’s not the world’s most awkward phrasing, I don’t know what is) but tales of blowing air horns at kids, turning the hose on them, or PULLING A KNIFE are just plain mean. Incidentally, if a kid swore at me for asking about his lack of costume, I would get as upset as you did at them. However, I probably wouldn’t ask - on Halloween, you ring my bell, you get candy.