Is there an age limit to Halloween?

As I sat outside my front porch helping out my parents give out Halloween candy to the  neighborhood kids, I saw something that caught my attention: a large group of high school students going around trick-or-treating. But does age really matter when it comes to celebrating a beloved holiday like Halloween? Is there an age limit to Halloween?

Yes, there is. By the time a person has reached high school, it might be time to put the mask down.

Thirteen is a good age to stop trick-or-treating because at that age you change from being a kid into a young adult. Accompanying this transition is letting go of certain things that are associated with being a child. However, there is still a large number of students who say otherwise and continue to go trick or treating.

“Who cares about how old you are,” sophomore Josue Prada said. “I’m 15 and I still go. There’s no written rule that says you can’t go after a certain age.”

Other students agree that after a certain age, you really shouldn’t be taking part in this festivity.

“I think it’s kind of annoying whenever I see people our age going out and begging for candy,” freshman Pedro Carrillo said.

There is an exception to this, and that’s if you’re accompanying a younger sibling who is of appropriate age. In this situation, it is completely okay to go trick-or-treating because you’re not going to directly benefit yourself. Instead, you’re simply lending a hand to sibling.

“The only reason I went is because my mom couldn’t take my brothers this year,” freshman Samuel Cervantes said. “Normally I wouldn’t have gone, but for my brothers’ sake I went this year.”

If, for whatever reason, a high school student decides to go, they should at least bother to dress up. No, dressing in all black does not count as a costume. There were a lot of people who were too old to be trick-or-treating and didn’t even bother to buy a costume. If you’re too old to go and you still decide to go, it’s either go big or go home.

“Yeah, I did see a lot of people my age asking for candy,” Cervantes said. “The worst part is that they didn’t even have a costume, they were just wearing their normal clothes and stuff.”

Usually, going trick-or-treating as a kid is a calm experience, besides the occasional jump scares and large haunted houses. But, when you’re 16, going around the neighborhood with all of your friends, it’s not exactly the most quiet experience. Many local residents complain about how this inconvenience annoyed them.

“Some kids came to my doorstep, blasting music through a speaker in their backpacks, it was very annoying to say the least,” neighborhood resident  Beth Williams said. “They’re too old to be trick-or-treating anyways, they should be home studying or something.”

There comes a time where you just have to let go of these childish activities and grow up. Bottom line is, if you’re already shaving, you might be too old to be trick-or-treating.