As kids, we loved many holidays: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Halloween. When I was a kid, my friends and I would plan our costumes for Halloween way ahead of time, sometimes in July we would already have several ideas. Our apartments and houses would be decorated with jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, cobwebs, and so many other decorations. And when the day finally came, we would get out of school, change into our costumes, and go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. One year, my friends and I figured out which houses had the better candy such as full-size Hershey’s bars and Family-size bags of M&M’s, so we made a map of where to go and came back home with a whole pillowcase full of candy. Since I was old enough to pronounce the word Halloween, I’ve been celebrating every year.
However, ever since the pandemic hit, it feels like Halloween has been less fun. I feel less and less excited for Halloween with every year that goes by, and I only use it as an excuse to dress up, match costumes with my friends, and get free candy. In the USA Today Online Poll, 74% out of the 17,000 responders said that they had fewer trick-or-treaters in 2023.
Some social media websites like Reddit have discussed this issue. One user named john_jdm on the site has stated, “To me, the biggest problem with Halloween is that so many people take their kids trick-or-treating at malls, or trunk-or-treats, or even to other neighborhoods instead of staying near home. This means that only some neighborhoods get trick-or-treating activity and that’s a shame. I’m lucky to be in one of those areas where people bring their kids, so I get lots of trick-or-treating activity but I think it’s just totally sad for other neighborhoods.” Another user on the site named Supacalafragalistic stated, “You are older now. It’s up to you to create the experience you’re looking for.”
Many have had experiences similar as the ones above, stating that the issue is that people are just growing up and therefore, not participating in any “little kid” activities. According to The Mirror, the age at which kids stop trick-or-treating is around 12 or 13 years old. It is also expected that 30% fewer families will engage in trick-or-treating in the United States in 2024.
Is it just age?
To answer this question, I’ve interviewed two people: 9th grader Krista Coyne and 6th grader Giana Stewart. One is over the age range of when kids usually trick-or-treat, and the other is still well within the range.
According to 11-year-old Giana Stewart, she has been excited about Halloween even after the pandemic hit. When asked about her opinion on Halloween, she stated, “Halloween is a good holiday, I like it and it’s fun trick-or-treating with my friends.” When asked whether or not she thinks the concept of Halloween is dying, however, she said, “Everyone has been used to seeing adults not celebrating and take after them, also because a lot of the people who used to celebrate are getting older.”
14-year-old Krista Coyne stated, “The first Halloween after the pandemic, I was away traveling, so I didn’t get to celebrate it. The Halloween after that, I had moved to Spain, so Halloween was celebrated differently and I feel I can’t really compare American Halloween to Spanish Halloween. But, in general, it’s felt less interactive, I guess. Less people doing big things for the Holiday and less decorations in general. The hype seems to have gone down.” When asked about her thoughts on how Halloween was dying, she explained, “I think it’s probably just our perspective because we’re older and also people realized they don’t need to get all hyped up about it.”
Overall, after observing two different views on Halloween, the person who was not in the age group for trick-or-treating or celebrating Halloween has stated that it has felt “less interactive” and “the hype seems to have gone down.” This conflicts with the opinion of the person who was in the age range for continuing to trick-or-treat, who said that it has felt really exciting and commented on how much fun she has with her friends.
Answering my question from before, was it age? Based on what we’ve heard from these two sides of the issue, It feels safe to say that Halloween is going down in popularity because of people just growing up and kids wanting to act like adults, which then results in fewer people participating in Halloween. But the memories of how fun it was will never be forgotten.
Works Cited
Beck, Julie. “Where Are All the Trick-or-Treaters?” The Atlantic, 31 October 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/10/is-trick-or-treating-on-the-decline/574459/. Accessed 16 October 2024.
Borrelli, Christopher. “The rise and fall of trick-or-treating – North Shore.” Chicago Tribune https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com, https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/tribune/article_popover.aspx?guid=6c93dcb7-7590-4094-a024-bf9965007399. Accessed 16 October 2024.
Contreras, Adriana Guisell. “Halloween: A Dying Tradition – The Mirror.” The Mirror, https://vnhsmirror.com/209646/packlife/blogs/halloween-a-dying-tradition/. Accessed 16 October 2024.
“Were there less trick-or-treaters this year than the past?” USA Today, 3 November 2023, https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/11/03/less-trick-or-treatershalloween-2023/71426191007/. Accessed 16 October 2024.