Dear Blogger:

Your comments on the Halloween blahs made me laugh because I can sympothize with you! When they were younger it seemed like so much fun but then my kids got into older grades and suddenly the outfits were more elaborate or bloodier..(not a fan of this) and they no longer want to trick or treat with mom and dad- so sad. My daughter is in her senior year and she has put together the cutest cat costume from Alice and Wonderland...this will be her last year trick or treating. She is excited to go running around one last time with her friends and she is also sad since this is the last time she can.

When she reached highschool I thought she was too old to trick or treat anymore; but then, after seeing groups of highschoolers come around all dressed up and excited to get their candy, I realized they are still just children and are just as excited to trick or treat as when they were 6 years old. It is always hard to let them grow older and sometimes it feels like they took the fun out of certain activities once they get to old for our participation. So instead of holding thier little hands as they go door to door, I guess I will be just handing out candy this year while they go tromping around in seek of all that forbidden sugar!

Teens showing up with their hands out and no costume get last year's candy.

@Neil: HaHa! I think I'll take up that tradition!

I can't help but think Mir is a major killjoy. I trick-or-treated through highschool. I don't have any children, but I still love Halloween. I decorate the house with my Snow Village Halloween village (and I think the Christmas version of this village is just dumb), I carve a bunch of pumpkins, and I happily give out candy every year.

As far as the older kids go, most of them in my neighborhood make the effort to dress up, and I enjoy seeing them because they often get quite creative with their costumes (current events and political jokes).

You should treasure the fact that your kids still want to be kids and let them have a night of clean (albeit sugar-laced) fun.

Larry David was right after all........

Not to say they can't do both, but at least while the older kids are trick-or-treating they're not taking drugs, getting each other pregnant and stealing car stereos. I was a little irked a few years ago when someone in my neighborhood accosted an older boy about being too old to be out - he happened to be developmentally delayed and was with his little brother, I hope he didn't understand what she was talking about. On the other hand, I've seen nineteen-year-old mothers going door to door with their babies, maybe then it's time to give it a rest (until the kids get older and you can take them out and then help eat the proceeds!) Long live the Great Pumpkin

I trick-or-treated up through high school too. My mom and dad always thought I was too old, and thought it was stupid and I shouldn't do it, but I always had a costume of some kind. My friends usually had good ones too. We definitely put the effort in. I agree that if a teen is going to go out, they ought to have a costume. Just showing up with a bag doesn't really cut it. I do give the candy, but I don't like it when they do that. I am now 31, and relish the thought of going with my 2 girls each year now.

My son stopped after 8th grade, but this year his friends (they are HS juniors) are talking about it. They are good kids and I think a little farewell to childhood isn't a bad thing. I actually doubt they will. But, as Middle America Man points out, there are worse things for them to be into! My 8th grade daughter is going and I've hinted it is likely her last year. Then again, I remember going through high school myself, back in the late 70s.

We live in a safe, busy urban neighborhood and a lot of kids of all ages come from less safe areas. I welcome them all. It should be a festive night, not one of judging or begrudging. The more the merrier. Lights out when the candy's gone.

I agree with the posters that it is fine for teenagers to be out trick or treating if they are dressed up and it is done in the Halloween spirit not just to be greedy. In my school district middle school and high school kids are encouraged to go tirck or treating for canned goods to donate to the food bank.

Currently a 6 ft tall woman, I grew super fast as a kid. I was as tall as my mom by the time I was 8 yrs old. When I was trick-or-treating at the age 9 yrs old, the little old lady who came to the door harshly told me I was too old to be trick-or-treating and slammed the door in my face. (My costume did include a mask that covered my face).

I ran home, cried, and refused to trick-or-treat any more that night. It was a traumatizing experience. I already felt like an outcast because my body was developing so much faster than the other kids.

The next year I didnt want to go out. I was having a miserable time helping hand out the candy while in costume. It took a lot of convincing, but I reluctantly did hit a few houses that year. So basically, that was what I did the next few years. I handed out candy and hit the neighbors who I knew would not slam the door in my face. Halloween was ruined for me until I got old enough to go to parties.

Yes, they should at least attempt a costume... but if anyone comes to your door trick-or-treating, please dont slam it in their face. If they are adults or teenagers, you can just give them a penny candy (a single mint, whatever) and think of it as their payment for getting dressed up and making fools of themselves. What they want may be the joy of trick-or-treating rather than the actual candy... a way for them to still celebrate the holiday before (or rather than) going to drunken Costume Parties.

The little ones are always very cute, but my daughter, a sophomore in high school still trick or treats with her friends.  They offer to sing or dance for candy and if the neighbors want a show, they've always got a good skit or routine, well choreographed and fun.  She tells me it's their last year and frankly, it will be missed.  Those neighbors that don't listen to their routine, still give them candy and enjoy their outfits.  When I open a door and see teenagers with a pillow sack and nothing else or maybe just a mask, I shake my head, smile,  tell them to have fun and be good.  It's a small price to pay for kids staying out of trouble and having some fun.  Long live Holloween! 

In our town, trick or treating is a huge event. Many homeowners decorate to the hilt.

My kids participated all through high school. Lots of teens put a lot of thought into creative non-scary costumes and fun play and parties. Some combine the night with volunteer work and charities.

We always complain that kids grow up too fast. Let them be kids this one night.

I trick-or-treated one year when I was 17 and I was dressed up and having fun and the houses my friends and I went to were more than happy to give us candy. So now, as an adult, I figure if the teenager put in the effort to dress up, then they deserve a piece of candy. And if they come between 8 and 10, most of the young kids are done and home, so I'd rather not eat all the extra candy. If the teen is not dressed up, then it's no candy. There are worse things in life that giving a 17 year old kid dressed as a chick magnet candy.

When my brother was in fifth grade, he was nearly six feet tall. One of our neighbors (an unpleasant, rather bitter woman,) looked up at him and said, "Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" He was a grade schooler...and he was crushed by her comment. Height is no indicator of age.

As for the teens (and in some cases adults) who come around, snide comments usually gets your house egged. I just buy less expensive candy, and everyone gets a smile. It's only once a year.

since i live in a rather remote area and there are few houses and fewer children, my 8th grader will not be headed out - it's silly for it to be just me and the kid. we'll watch classics like the original "invasion of the body snatcher" and "rocky horror picture show". I'll buy the candy.

I have always had a bah humbug attitude towards Hween. When I was single, I was afraid to open the door for 6'3" Freddie Kreugers. After I got married, my husband got the door, usually dressed up, and recently it has been over before I even get home from work. THIS year however, I am going all out. The yard is full of ghouls, skeletons, 8 carved pumpkins, tomb stones. I am at work today with black lipstick and spiders all over myself. I am going to greet the trick or treaters dressed as a witch in head to toe black with green face, broom and pointy hat. I am serving blood soup with eyeballs and swampgrass pasta with baby dragon tongues to my dinner guests. I don't know what has come over me. Bah humbug, no more!

As long as they are some school age they are still kids. No one treats them like adults for anything else but don't want them to trick or treat, it's ridiculous. Let them enjoy while they can.

Ouch. That hurt a lot thank you very much. As a sophmore in high school in a small town thats sometimes seems like a hole in the ground, my friends and I look foreward to Halloween trick-or-treating because we can all get together and goof off since we cant the rest of the year now that the UHS was built. This is our exscuse to get together for hours and run about the neighborhood like a bunch of lunatics while bleting out various Halloween songs such and "This is Halloween" from "The Nightmare Before Chirstmas" or "Trick or Treat" by the Vocaloids Rin and Len Kagamine. Most HS students are welcome to Trick-or-treat in the neighborhood so there really isnt an age limit. Even adults get candy around here.

I'm glad to see so many ppl putting that their High Schoolers are still T / T-ing! I have no problem what-so-ever with the older kids going out. You buy so many bags of candy, and you hand it out to those who say trick or treat. You shouldn't be rude to the kids if they are polite! I did have some older kids come by the house one year - not dressed or anything, just rang the bell and stuck their bag out. I did make them say trick or treat - but they still got candy. Yes, my post is kind of rambly, but some people just really irk me when it comes to this. Let the kids have some more time as being kids! It doesn't last long then they turn into adults!

When I was a teen, I enjoyed Halloween thoroughly without trick-or-treating...we raised hell.  Nothing too destructive, but that's what Halloween used to be about for big kids.  I don't mind teen trick-or-treaters if they're dressed up.  I think maybe the "trick" aspect of halloween should be brought back, then maybe the crabby neighbors who keep their house dark will learn to participate in this community holiday.  Halloween used to be fun.  I feel like over-parenting and grumpiness are killing it.

My boy's stopped in 7th grade they were too cool for that---but my daughter and her friends have a blast dressing up and going out, don't think there should be an age under 18; as long as they aren't causing trouble and are simply having fun.

I really think kids who are old enough to drive should not be trick or treating. That being said, as long as they are in costume, I don't begrudge kids of nearly any age a piece of candy.

An entirely different story is something that really irritates me. People carrying around their babies- some less than 6 months old- and trick or treating for them. What is that all about? A 6 month old can't eat candy. Sometimes they're even asleep in the strollers as they walk around with them- trick or treating well into the evening with them. I find it so strange. I have two kids and while we did the rounds with our kids when they were babies to show off their cute costumes to the neighbors and friends- we did not collect candy for them, nor did we bother to go places where we didn't know anyone. Am I being scroogish? My kids didn't even start going outside of the dozen homes on our immediate street until they were school age. Babies and toddlers do not need that much candy or that extensive of a trick or treat trip!

i think that after the age of 13 or 14, it's time to grow up & move on.

start thinking about a career, maybe even get a pt. time job.

kids today have it too easy, most are lazy & worthless.

the only things our "next generation" seems to be interested in

is sex, drugs, & being "gangsta"!

god help us.....

My daughter will be 24 next week, she LOVES Halloween, it is her favorite holiday. I don't think she still Trick or Treats, and will probably want to give out candy this year (1st year married), but she has always loved to dress up fantastically for Halloween and did trick or treat through high school. She used to have me drive her to a neighborhood that did have kids, because we were so isolated nobody did trick or treating. I remember as a young kid probably 4th-6th grade, going to a few houses in the neighborhood, without any costume; my mom wouldn't let us trick or treat, we had a party with candy at the small school we went to (and my parents taught at), near our house. My sisters and I would make a few quick stops on our way home (our school was just less than a block from our house, we just walked home by ourselves from the party). I'm so glad these people were nice to us; we just wanted s few peices of candy (more than we got at the party), and to feel like we were "normal" like other kids; I don't know if my mom even ever knew. I'll have to aske her! Looking back, I'm sure the neighbors knew perfectly well who we were, even though we didn't really know them (most were older folks, no kids).

dragonfish64 - "Most" are lazy and worthless? Really? How sad for you. Age or youth has little to do with motivation or worth; the same could be said about their elders, some of them. Not sure how many jobs there are out there for 13-14 year olds; adults can't find much these days.

As for trick or treaters beyond grade school my rule of thumb is the older the kid, the smaller the candy. I turn away no one. We have many kids who are not local to our neighborhood come in their parents' cars. We average about 120 visitors each year, depending on weather, starting with little ones at dusk until maybe 9. Once the porch lights go out, that's it for the year.

By the way my GRANDMOTHER used to dress up and trick or treat as a grown-up (long before she was a grandmother, I hasten to add) going from bar to bar with her friends. This was back in the 19-teens and 1920s (she was born in 1893.)

Older trick or treaters are ruining it for younger ones, as it has become impossible to tell who is the trick or treater and who is the home invasion expert.  The risk is too great, and, reluctantly, I have given up treating kids in the interest of avoding the ultimate "trick".  Sad.