Your twitter feed is covered with it, pop culture is dripping in it, you can’t even go to the store without noticing it- yeah it’s “spooky season”. Honestly, I can’t think of a holiday that invokes more memories of childhood than Halloween: the hectic nature of finding a good costume, organizing which friends you are going to trick-or-treat with, and finally the pinnacle of events- trading candy at the end of a long night.

However, it’s time for us to start realizing that these are moments of the past. Every year the question rolls around, how old is too old to be trick-or-treating? I’m going to be completely honest here- Freshman, if you are so desperate for one more ride then enjoy your last time. Sophomores, unless you have extenuating circumstances you should probably find something better to do. Juniors, you have homework to take care of and school to stress out about. Seniors, I believe that this goes without saying: No.

I understand that this may seem like a no brainer to some, but every Halloween some kid who’s definitely capable of growing facial hair comes up to my door asking for candy. Seriously, let it go.

Now I understand it’s not the same for everybody, I have a good friend who used to live in Egypt and Yemen where he could not go trick-or-treating. For the past couple years since he moved back to the states he has been trick-or-treating to make up for the time lost. Unless you have a good reason such as this are very few other reasons to be going door to door asking others for candy. Here’s another rule of thumb, if you can drive yourself to the store and pay for candy then you probably shouldn’t be asking your neighbors for handouts. Remember, Halloween is a zero sum holiday- more people that are out, the less candy for each person. Essentially you are taking candy from a child.      

This doesn’t mean that Halloween festivities are only for the young kids. There’s plenty of other activities that involve us older kids; watching movies, hanging out with friends, really anything that keeps you off the street. Just remember who this night belongs to- the kids.