How old is too old to trick or treat?

*Audio clip is of Tyson Holman and Kyler Campbell

With Halloween quickly approaching, many college students are asking a simple question — What will I do on Halloween night? 

Trick-or-treating is a classic Halloween activity, and an easy way to pick up some free treats. While some college students may wonder if this is something they can fit into their plans, most feel they are too old to participate in the tradition. 

“Personally, I wouldn’t do it,” Kyler Campbell said, a USU sophomore. “If I saw someone else doing it that was a college student, I wouldn’t judge them.”  

Tyson Holman, another USU sophomore, had a similar perspective. 

“I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “I don’t judge people who do.” 

While Holman or Campbell don’t plan to trick or treat, Campbell does understand why people would want to be a part of the fun. 

“I wish I could still do it, but I don’t know if I would feel comfortable doing it myself,” he said.  

Others have refused to give the treats and candy to visitors who they think are too old, but it is mainly a judgment call of those handing out the candy. 

Holman said the last time he went trick-or-treating, he was around 16 or 17 years old.  

“I looked super young back then, so no one denied me anything,” he said. 

However, it seems like most teenagers stop trick-or-treating before they start getting stopped by houses.  

“The determining factor is usually maturity. Once you get older, you start going to Halloween parties and stuff,” Holman said. “You kind of start moving away from trick-or-treating.”  

In some areas, it is not completely a judgment call. Around the country, some locations have laws restricting what ages can participate in trick-or-treating. Some areas have legal consequences for those who do not follow these laws.  

In Chesapeake, Virginia, they used to have a city ordinance placing a trick-or-treating age limit of 12 years old. Those who did not follow the ordinance and did trick or treat, could receive a misdemeanor charge, with associated jail time of up to six months, or a fine anywhere from $25-$100. 

While this ordinance was a part of the policy for 45 years, it was never enforced. The policy was updated in March 2019 to change the age from 12 to 14, and removed the possible penalties.  

Similar laws are in Charleston, South Carolina, where people over the age of 16 cannot trick or treat, and in Belleville, Illinois, where Mayor Mack Eckert signed an ordinance banning anyone older than 12 from trick-or-treating starting in 2008. 

Holman finds these types of laws “a little ridiculous.” 

“What are they going to do? No police are just going to come up and be like, ‘Hey, can I ID you?’ I don’t think that would realistically ever happen.” 

-Carter.Ottley@usu.edu

Featured photo by Elise Gottling