How old is too old?

[Ryleigh]

How old do you think is too old for door to door trick or treating???

My nephew is 14 and wants to go out with his younger cousins. His parents think it is great. I think he is pushing it a bit. There are lots of other activities planned in town for older children, who still enjoy dressing up and having fun. What do you think?

[AnnW]

Is he going to dress up? Is he going to be polite and say "thank you"? Is he going to have fun? Why not?

[angie r]

Let him go for it! I'd still be ringing the doorbells if I wouldn't be laughed at!!! LOL Let him have fun that isn't getting him into trouble.

[kat]

I've seen 16 and 17 year olds trick or treating. I have no problem with it as long as they are dressed up and polite. If they just show up in "street clothes" looking for a free hand out, I think they should find something else to do.

[Diane]

Last year we had a mom and a dad trick or treating WITH their little ones. (they were all dressed up) I thought it was kind of cute... and they were having a heck of a good time too. My oldest dd stopped going when she was about 12 years old. My middle dd always looked older than she was and some people would say mean/nasty things like... don't you think you're getting a little bit too OLD to be going trick or treating??? Then they'd look at me like... ??? ?( ??? and I'd look at them and say something like... well, she's ONLY 10. Of course they'd apologize but geeze... if I thought she was too old to go out I wouldn't have allowed her to go. My youngest dd's last year of trick or treating was when she was l4. I don't think he's too old at all. I'd let him go, but make sure that he's dressed up. I hope he has a lot of fun!

Diane... :wave:

[RCT]

I agree with the masses here....as long as he is polite and dressed up also, why not....your only a kid once...:jack:

[Sasha Rowan]

Before kids, we lived in a small town near in-laws. SIL, BIL, their 2 kids (ages 1 & 2 then), me and a few friends would dress up and take the kids around. dh as always working. Now we just go to the mall, very few people in this area actually do door-to door trick or treating. None of ds1's friends do Halloween at all.:(

[Diane]

Originally posted by Sasha Rowan
Before kids, we lived in a small town near in-laws. SIL, BIL, their 2 kids (ages 1 & 2 then), me and a few friends would dress up and take the kids around. dh as always working. Now we just go to the mall, very few people in this area actually do door-to door trick or treating. None of ds1's friends do Halloween at all.:(

In our neighborhood not many kids go door to door trick or treating anymore but go to the malls instead. I've got so many good childhood memories of halloween and how fun it was running door to door trying to make our way to the front of the line to collect our candy. WAY back then there were always TONS of kids... it was SO much fun. Our neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods were just loaded full of kids... I can't imagine what kind of good memories these kids will have store hopping... it just doesn't seem the same. I'm hopeing that this year we have more kids than the 13 we had last year. :( We've had a few new families with kids move in so... let's hope they make a difference. :)

Diane... :wave:

[TXmom]

Ds's last year was supposed to be last Halloween, but we moved to a new town and the population of children here is greater than the adults I think. Also there are houses upon houses here (our old neighborhood was 3 streets) and trick or treating is supposed to be a huge social activity. So, I'm going to let him go one more time - he's 12.

[AnnW]

Originally posted by TXmom
Ds's last year was supposed to be last Halloween, but we moved to a new town and the population of children here is greater than the adults I think. Also there are houses upon houses here (our old neighborhood was 3 streets) and trick or treating is supposed to be a huge social activity. So, I'm going to let him go one more time - he's 12.

As much as you love Halloween, why are you stopping him next year??

[TXmom]

Because the older he gets the less it's about having fun dressing up and enjoying the experience and the more focused it is on putting the least effort into a costume and grabbing the evilest mask he can find just so he can say he's dressed up, and getting the most candy he can.

[AnnW]

Originally posted by TXmom
Because the older he gets the less it's about having fun dressing up and enjoying the experience and the more focused it is on putting the least effort into a costume and grabbing the evilest mask he can find just so he can say he's dressed up, and getting the most candy he can.


that makes sense! :)

[darlene]

I agree with the others.....if he is dressing up and being polite....why not?

I always dress up when I take the kids out trick-or-treating and have often had people give me treats too! :lol: Even when I declined them, they still gave them to me!

Let's hope for nice weather for this year.

:)