With October in full swing and Halloween inching closer and closer, the age-old question dawns once again. At what age should people stop celebrating Halloween? 

There are a lot of ways to celebrate the holiday; Trick-Or-Treating, staying at home handing out candy, huddling up on the couch watching a scary movie, attending a costume party, or simply not celebrating at all. It can be hard to say what traditions should be restricted to a certain age group and which are ageless.

A survey from Today says 44% of people believe there is no age limit to Trick-or-Treating while 20% believe 15-16 should be the cutoff. The question of whether or not teenagers should go trick-or-treating invokes strong opinions in people who celebrate the day. 

Danelle Henry, a junior at A-West believes people should stop celebrating around 11 or 12, “I think that teenagers have other priorities and have other fun things to do rather than trick or treat!”

There does come an age where going out and celebrating a children’s tradition does become a little strange. Adults probably shouldn’t be running around with groups of children collecting candy. They should only be accompanying younger children they know throughout the night, not collecting treats. 

“I feel like after 18 it gets weird,” senior Grace Hodson comments. 

There shouldn’t be any judgment placed upon a group of teenagers who want to dress up and feel the childhood nostalgia of going door to door to collect candy. As long as they’re respectful of everyone around them and their environment, they shouldn’t be barred from enjoying the night. 

After a strange Covid year it could be argued that society should let teenagers enjoy things that are normally for a younger demographic. The Covid-19 pandemic really proved how quickly life can change and ripped the last childhood experiences out of older teenagers’ hands; like the age-old tradition of Trick-Or-Treating. 

Childhood years and experiences have a shelf life sadly and people should be able to milk these activities for as long as possible. Putting an age cap on things like Trick-Or-Treating is pointless, as long as the older groups are respectful and polite there is no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to participate. 

“No one is too old for free candy,” senior Morgan Roberts states.