Oh wait?
Posted on 10/30/2007 7:42:01 PM PDT by Plutarch
Wednesday is Halloween, the one day each year when it's good to be bad -- or at least grotesque and frightening.
That doesn't mean goblins and tramps should leave their manners behind.
Etiquette experts and Halloween lovers say there are rules to follow, even on the scariest day of the year, for kids and adults alike.
Rules for kids
How old is too old to trick or treat?
Teenagers should leave the trick or treating to younger children. By the time they're 13, many teens would rather spend Halloween at a party with their friends than go door to door, anyway.
There are exceptions: Teens trick or treating with young siblings are all right, as long as they are meticulously courteous and wear a costume.
And it should be a real costume, says Todd Wolfe, who used to operate the Scream If You Can Haunted House in Clovis.
"I don't like it when people come to my front door and have a T-shirt that says, 'I'm a Bum,' " he says. But he gladly forks over candy to trick-or-treaters of any age if they're making an effort to dress up.
At the other end of the spectrum, Fresno image consultant Cheri Bertelsen says, anyone who can't chew candy shouldn't knock on doors.
"I've had people come where they're carrying a 6-month-old," she says. "That's a little much, too. If you don't have teeth, you probably shouldn't be trick or treating."
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
And then I came into view from behind a parked car with my son. Guess what he was dressed as. Poor woman nearly fell off her stool laughing. (Hey, we got to reuse the Lambchop costume and my daughter got to wear a pretty frilly dress, which was all that mattered. Well, that and the candy ;-) )
I do too! Our children went out when they were older. In fact, our college freshmen daughter dressed up and went with the girls from her dorm one year. They had a blast.
I don't get it, people complain about kids partying and drinking, growing up too fast, and then they complain that the kids are too old when they find some innocent childish fun.
The same could be said about adults who dress up and go to parties.
One year I went as the adult version of Little Red Riding Hood.
Last year my middle son (he was twelve then and in 7th grade) went as the ‘Verizon Guy.’ We had the perfect (yet ancient) Members Only jacket (we drew an applique of Verizon on it); he had black framed sunglasses (lens removed) and carried his cell phone. When he went to the doors he would say ‘Can you hear me now.’ A neighbor laughed so hard, she went in and got him (tada!) a Verizon shopping bag to put the candy in. Too funny.
I know a guy that used to go trick or treating with his martini glass when he was 50.
Never too old. Halloween is for everyone.
Oh wait?
They also have those liqueur-filled chocolates, just be sure you don't get them mixed up with the regular candy.
I never went trick or treating in my earlier youth, the church I grew up in forbade such practices.
I would feel a little awkward doing it now, so why start.
I wonder how many people are going to buy New England Patriots sweatshirts, cut the sleeves off, and walk around calling themselves hobos.
Or, just add a camera and voila, you’re going as Bill Belichick, which is genuinely frightening to at least 30 of the other NFL teams.
Last time I went trick or treating was when I was about 17, or so. I felt like an absolute idiot, as I’d grown out of trick or treating years before, but I DID have a good reason! We’d completely forgotten that Halloween was coming up and so didn’t have any candy. I wasn’t about to let my house get egged, so I swallowed my pride, put on an old werewolf mask and gloves that I had from years before, and took one for the team. I went around the block trick or treating all by my lonesome, collecting candy from all our neighbors on the block. Can you imagine someone over six feet tall showing up at your front door in a werewolf mask and wearing clawed werewolf gloves holding out a bag at you, wordlessly demanding candy? Talk about your humiliating experiences! Thank God I had that mask, as there’s no way I would’ve been able to go through with it, otherwise.
I finished just in time, too, as the first real trick or treaters started showing up a little bit after I got back. With a little careful rationing, the candy I collected from all the neighbors was able to last through the whole night. And that’s how I saved my house from a severe egging that year! :D
‘Round these parts, that’s called “Liquor Treat”!
We’ve always cut them off at 13. When you’re 13 you have to find a party to go to. If you’re still 12, no problem it’s your last year, have fun.
But they're only trashing my yard!
Are you kidding? In my home town of Chico we have Chico State college students who come to our door in costume looking for candy.
Your post is worthless without pics!
:)
My sons who are 16 and 17 respectively are going to Trick or Treat tomorrow. All their High School Jr & Sr friends are going to as well. They will wear costumes and be polite. It is just fun, they like to do it. Beats T.V. & video games.
when you figure out santa doesn’t exist, then you should stop mooching candy from neighbors.
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