Other holidays have certain aspects that only pertain to small children, but Halloween is not and should not be one of them. A few other cities described in this ABC article have decided to make it illegal for anyone over the age of twelve to go trick-or-treating. Sure, maybe only little kids believe in Santa and the Easter bunny, but people of all ages should enjoy Halloween. Why try to deprive teens of it?

When you’re in high school, you’re still a kid. You have that young, wild spirit, and trick-or-treating gives high schoolers and younger kids alike a day to exert their whims and take to the streets in a frenzy for the sweet taste of candy.

The main concern for putting an age limit on trick or treating is to prevent crime, but the SRO of Bob Jones High School Patrick Ewing stated that in Madison, there truly isn’t a high crime rate at all on this particular holiday. He said, “Crime doesn’t really run rampant [on Halloween]. Madison is a really nice town, but we do occasionally see some underage drinking at Halloween parties.”

Would you rather let teenagers have good, clean fun by going trick or treating, or let them partake in more dangerous juvenile activities such as partying and underage drinking?

Mrs. Van Dam, a teacher at Bob Jones as well as a parent, said, “As long as they are truly just trick-or-treating and not causing problems, I don’t care how old they are. Everybody needs to relax and let kids of all ages have some fun.”

The problem is, if lawmakers do decide to put an age limit on trick-or-treating in Madison, the kids will have to come up with new ways to have fun. 

Most teens surveyed about Halloween shared that if they decide not to go out trick or treating, they will stay at home and watch scary movies. Costume parties and pumpkin carving are some other ways that teens partake in the spirit of Halloween. They’ll hand out candy or go to haunted houses, but if some rambunctious teenager wants to go trick or treating, then by golly they should be allowed to do it!

If there were to be an age limit on trick or treating, it should be 18. BJ student Katie Steel said, “You need to start becoming an adult.” However, that doesn’t raise much of an issue seeing as how by the time you’re eighteen, most people are not as fascinated in trick or treating anyway.

Teens should be allowed to partake in whatever spooky celebrations they please, but once you’re a legal adult, it is time to surrender your trick or treating ways.