One major October highlight for many people is Trick-or-Treating on Halloween night.
There’s just something thrilling about dressing up and going door to door through your neighborhood to scare, and be scared by your neighbors. The free candy, however, is by far the best part.
It’s also an unfortunate truth that there are people out there who use the opportunity to cause harm to others. Classic stories of tainted candy and kidnapping make many parents wary of the holiday.
In an effort to help reduce the risks that come along with Halloween, a new tradition called “Trunk-or-Treating” has become popular, which is little more than tailgating with an added spook effect.
Instead of parents decorating houses, leaving the lights on, and passing out candy to all the neighborhood kids that knock on the door, they move all the fun to the parking lot.
Parents decorate their cars and place a bowl of candy in their trunk. Then they all congregate at the local church parking lot and the kids go from car to car to collect candy.
Trunk-or-Treating takes all the fun out Halloween
Taking measures to protect children is all fine and dandy. I understand that. However, there is such a thing as taking it too far.
Instead of sneaking around in the dark, scaring people, getting scared and knocking on doors, Trick-or-Treaters are forced to walk around a lit parking lot. The opportunities to scare and be scared are gone.
Trunk-or-Treating also effectively shortens the Halloween experience. I remember going out to Trick-or-Treat on Halloween night and spending multiple hours running around neighborhoods, hoarding as much candy as I possibly could.
With Trunk-or-Treating, how long does it take to walk around a church parking lot? Maybe a whole hour if you’re lucky?
Trunk-or-Treating is ruining all of the fun of Halloween. The experience of dressing up and running from house to house simply can not be replicated in a parking lot.
Trick-or-Treating can be just as safe as Trunk-or-Treating if parents just take some simple precautionary measures. Simple rules such as ”always stay in well-lit areas” can mitigate most late-night risks, and if parents can’t accompany their children, they should make a pre-determined route and have them follow it.
Trick-or-Treating is the most important feature of Halloween. Don’t let it die out and get replaced by some lame parking lot tradition.
