The Death of Trick or Treating
Filed Under (Halloween) by Mike Wilton on 09-14-2010
Tagged Under : Trick or Treating, Trunk or Treating
If the trick or treat scene in your neck of the woods is anything like mine you’ve probably seen the numbers dwindle over the last 5-10 years. What was once a night of fun with kids crowding the streets dressed up in ghoulish glam, has turned into just another night in the neighborhood. Child safety advocates, anti-Halloween propaganda, and church and community events have surely played a part, and ultimately introduce a little thing called “Trunk or Treat”.
If you haven’t heard of trunk or treat you’re probably still living in an area where Halloween is widely celebrated and is still a huge tradition. If that’s the case, let me know where you live so I can come join in the festivities. While trunk or treat sounds like some messed up prank you would pull on your friend in the back of your car, its basically just tailgating for Halloween and kids go car to car to get treats in the parking lot of a church, community center, or the like. Not exactly what I call a night of fun.
I’ve seen it growing in popularity locally over the last few years, as many of the schools have offered these events, but this year was the first I had seen that it had gone mainstream. While browsing the Halloween section of Walmart the other day I discovered the following three decorations.
Yep. Now not only can you waste a night of trick or treating in a parking lot, but you can try and be festive in the process. Now that trunk or treating has gone mainstream we are sure to see the death of trick or treating as we know it. The whole thing is a joke and I am sad to see the tradition of Halloween fading as the years progress. What was once a sacred holiday for young kids to enjoy tricks and treats has turned into just another warm and fuzzy holiday for overprotective authority figures to spoil.
What are your thoughts on the dying Halloween traditions and trunk or treating? Has Halloween survived in your neck of the woods or are you seeing a decline in trick or treating as well?
It is an unfortunate side effect of the society we live in. Neither of my grandparents ever locked their cars or houses. Neighbors used to know each other. You get the idea.
However there are a lot of positives to trunk-or-treat. Churches started it and it continues to grow every year. Generally kids get candy, music and food is also provided along with games, rides etc. It gives parents and kids a safe place to connect, just not in the neighborhood.
I can definitely see where you’re coming from, but I also remember being a kid and not being able to go to many houses as every year there were more and more stories about razor blades in candy bars or poisoned food. Unfortunately the stupid people in society have forced Halloween to get this way.
Trunk or Treat can be good if it’s done right. At the community center at my church we do this every year and it’s really fun. Last year we had a Halloween “Thriller” party where we turned the inside of the building into a huge halloween party and everyone learned the Thriller dance, we had awesome costumes and fog machines and decorations, it was one of the best parties I’d been to. And – nobody had to be afraid fo a kid getting hurt.
Glad to find another Halloween nut. I hear similiar stories from friends etc about the dwindling numbers of T-O-T’s (did I just come up with a brilliant acronym?). I think part of it is safety concerns, but I’m sure the new telecommunications have a part – little kids all calling and texting and posting where the best hot spots are.
I’m in Santa Monica, and the neighborhood north of me gets a pretty decent turnout – but there is one area surrounding a particular ultra-decorated house that is packed every year, to the point that the police show up and block off the intersection to car traffic. It’s quite the scene, I even made a little video about it.
Yeah, there was a house like that in Norco for a long time that did a pretty stellar display that EVERYONE showed up to. Sadly rising energy costs forced the owners to shut it down a few years back.
I miss yard haunts. My parents and I did them for a number of years when I was younger, but the Halloween spirit just seems so dead around here anymore. I listen to a lot of haunt podcasts and it feels as if Halloween is still alive and well outside California. Pretty sad really.
Mike, what is the nature of these Halloween podcasts and where can I find them?
Thanks…JM
Trick or treating has declined every year since 3 years ago. Last year (2009) I got about 3-4 kids. Every year I do more and more complicated pumpkin carves. Last year I did some professional level makeup, but nobody got to enjoy it. This year, I am teaming up with my mother to do something that should get people talking. I haven’t seen or heard anyone doing such an act in Halloween history, and I have seen many masks, garage haunted houses, etc. And I intend to completely rock it.
If all goes right, people are in for a real treat, and something to talk about for the rest of their life. You are not going to get this at trunk or treat, parties, and even costume competitions.
Halloween is what we make of it. I want great memories, and I want to inspire others.
Hi John,
My favorite at the moment is over at http://hauntcast.net, but there are others I have listened to from time to time. I’ll have to see if I can dig up the links for you. Hauntcast is the only one I regularly listen to anymore though.
Well said Jesse! I hope you have an awesome Halloween this year. I’m at an in between stage at the moment, I want to rock the hardcore Halloween, but I’ve got twin toddlers that make it a bit difficult. As they get older, Halloween will definitely become a HUGE family tradition, as my wife and I are both avid Halloween fans.
To Mike, and anyone else, really.
I don’t have kids yet, but I hope they get as much out of the holidays as I did, and still do. I still remember my silly childhood mission one year to fill up a garbage bag of candy, and all my crazy costume get ups from authentic ninja uniforms to full body gorilla (which scared a kid behind his mother). My mother and grandmother were holiday and decorating nuts. Grandmother was a non-professional artist. So, I was always watching them, and tagging along to holiday shops of all sorts. It just became natural to me. It was never anything we did to fit in, or gain acceptance. We did it because we loved to do it for ourselves. For me, it is carrying on tradition, and allows me to escape from the seriousness of the rest of my life.
Truth is, I don’t know if there is a single thing which is seemingly crushing Halloween. When I was a kid, the mosquito scares were all over the news, and they promoted other options, but it never worked, everyone went out anyway. The perv list came out and there were a few less kids, but it was still over 30 at my mom’s house. What makes me worry is that parents are just brushing it off like, “Aaah, you aren’t missing anything. How much candy do you need, anyway?” In a way, people feeling like all you ever get is a Reece’s at best, some guy in a mask you buy from the store, or another vampire or pirate(ooooooh, never seen that before!). All just old hat. Like I said, I intend to damage that point of view if it is part of the problem. I’m not doing it this year, but my mother wants to see me duplicate Captain Barbosa for her. Doing facial prosthetic and aging makeup is a beyond my current skillset, but it is on the menu, now.
I used to live in the panhandle of FL but have lived in East TN for the past 8 yrs and although my parents report a huge dwindling of trick or treaters in their neighborhood back in FL, it seems alive and well here. Since we are in a more rural area, we travel to a particular neighborhood where there are literally so many trick or treaters that the police station themselves there yearly to control traffic. Not in a bad way…I think they enjoy it, too.
They even put up a huge sign at the entrance to the neighborhood welcoming trick or treaters every Halloween.
This year trunk or treat will be on the 29th.
Oh and by the way, we do trunk or treat a day or two before Halloween at my church. So we do both.
Years ago, we used to do extracurricular Halloween stuff (costume contests, haunted houses, and church events before Halloween). My old church and school, Saint Juliana, is keeping it that way by holding a fair on Friday the 29th this year.
For those in the Palm Beach area, you may want to check it out. That school they run is top notch. As a kid, me and my friends loved their activities. If history is an indicator of the present, they are not evangelical. Many of the rich Palm Beach families sent there kids to that school. My nicest school memories were from there.
Katie:
In the recorded history of trick-or-treating in America, there is NOT ONE instance of a child being hurt by a razor blade, needle, etc. in an apple or candy; poisoning is another myth. Urban legends, plain and simple.