Trick-or-Treating

Ah, Halloween. The spooky holiday is just around the corner and it's time we ask ourselves the inevitable question: To trick-or-treat or not to trick-or-treat? Some say that once you hit adolescence you must stay home and let the little kids have their fun. I beg to differ.

True, the trick-or-treating tradition was created for little kids to run around, look cute and yell, "Trick-or-treat!" at the top of their lungs but who is to say that as high schoolers we are not allowed to have as much fun?

In an informal survey of 100 Blazers on October 22, 2003, 50 percent said that they are going trick-or-treating this Halloween and 5 percent were contemplating on whether they should or not. Although this is a lot more than you may expect, it still does not compare to the amount of elementary school kids going out on Halloween night. This may be due to teenagers feeling too old for the holiday. "I'd rather go to a party than trick-or-treat," junior Dan Cate says. "[Trick-or-treating] was more fun when I was six."

Other Blazers say that we should go trick-or-treating as much as possible until we reach adulthood. Junior Erinn Johnson-Long says that people should only stop trick-or-treating when they are 21. "There's no age limit on candy," she says with a laugh.

Trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween until someone answers the door and you get the dreaded, "Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating?" Johnson-Long says that she gets that all the time when she goes trick-or-treating, but luckily no one has ever refused to give her candy. Unfortunately, I was once refused candy because someone thought I was too old. After all the hard work of putting a decent costume together, which is much harder when you can no longer fit into a Disney Movie character costume, and organizing the entire evening, someone actually said that they would not give me any candy. It was an outrage!

In all honesty, I understand the other side. I've seen many kids older than I out trick-or-treating only wearing sweats and masks. If you are going to go trick-or-treating at this age you do need at least a nice costume. "Kids our age can't be in regular clothes," Johnson-Long says. She adds that if they are "they have to be accompanying their siblings."

That doesn't seems too hard. The only problem is finding a nice costume without breaking the bank. Given that most people see Halloween as a holiday for young children, there aren't many costumes out there for us older folk. But there is a way to get great costumes – make one. There are plenty of thrift stores around town to pick up some cool threads for minimal cost.

With a good costume and a pillowcase (or another way of carrying candy), kids our age should be able to go trick-or-treating without all the trouble from adults. Halloween is a fun holiday for everyone, not just for little kids. So Blazers, get your friends together and your costumes ready because Halloween is on the way and it's time for us to trick-or-treat!