Asklemmy

When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

• C.S. Lewis

Good on your sister for not losing track of what makes her happy. Not doing things just because they are "childish" is the most childish trait an adult can display.

The rule is, if you dress up you get candy. I don't care how old you are, but you have to be dressed up.

I hate the idea that older kids shouldn't do it. Like I remember getting shit when I decided to be kid-like again at 15 after not having done it when I was 13 and 14.

Houses told me I was too old. And looking back now, as a parent of teens, and I wish they and their friends were just going out trick r treating. I will definitely encourage any kid I see. And at my age anyone under 26 is a kid, easily. I'd much rather kids do something communal and fun than just go out drinking. I'm sure that by the next Halloween when I was 16 I was probably doing something less good than asking for free candy.

If we want people to be communal, have fun, and be safe then we shouldn't give them shit when they do that. So I don't care if the old dude down the streets dons a skeleton costume and grabs a pillow case. If he has a costume, he gets candy. And anyone who tells me different will get called out for being a killjoy.

As long as you're wearing a costume, I don't care how old you are. You'll get a treat.

I’d be super happy with no upper limit on age.

What I definitely have is an attitude limit; I loathe it when sullen teenagers knock the door, mutter “trckotrt”, no dress up except someone has drawn a tear on their face and then grabs five portions of candy and just dashes out.

Like, you can be fucking 40 for all I care, but you squeal “triiick of treaaaat”, then I say “wow, aren’t your costumes great” and offer the bowl up. You then grab one large or a couple of small things, say thank you and walk off excitedly.

The requirement for me is that you look like you’re enjoying it. Otherwise, why am I opening the door to strangers and offering them sweets?

I give candy to parents with costumes. Knock on my door, say trick or treat, and you get candy. Them's the rules.

I also give adults I know beer or seltzer.

If it makes her happy, why do you care? I assume that most people do "childish" things despite their age because it makes them happy.

Age limitation on trick-or-treaters is an inherently fascist concept and will be trashed when the revolution happens.

If someone has the confidence to dress up and ring my doorbell, they’re getting candy and positive vibes from me.

There's no age limit. Adulthood isn't about not being whimsical it's about being whimsical and not caring that losers are judging you for being happy

No age limit in this household. I'd say "just show up with a bag," but I just gave treats so some 4yo with no bag. If an adult asked? They'd get them.

I just want to be kind. I wasn't allowed to trick or treat as a kid. I did as a teen, and you know what? Nobody cared how old our group was. We got candy like the rest of them. God bless those neighbors.

And God bless Halloween.

I think your Senior year of high school oughta be the cutoff, but I don't have any issues with college students trick or treating, so I think 23 or so would be my candy refusal threshold. This actually reminds me of a story I read a long time ago:

It's Halloween and there's a knock on the door, nothing out of the ordinary, and the person got up and went to the door. When they opened it, they found another door and doorframe up against their door, which read "Please knock for candy", they knocked and were offered candy by some college students who were carrying an entire door and frame around for this bit. I believe it ended with the homeowner refusing candy and giving the college students candy.

So yeah, I need to add an exception to my Halloween code of ethics: An awesome costume / gag can make up for any age.

I stopped at 14. At 23 it’s definitely weird, but whatever. I think it’s unfortunate that our culture shames adults for partaking in controlled mischief aspects of holidays and other such fun holiday traditions.

How generous of you.

but I let her do it.

It's an arbitrary cultural custom, with even more arbitrary expectations for who's included. I find it weird when a grown-up comes to your door and it straight up makes certain people angry, but there's no logical reason why it's bad.

No age limit but costume required. At least put on your sister's makeup or brothers overalls or saggy jeans, something. I have turned away kids without costumes but will candy anyone of any age who makes even the weakest attempt at a costume.

There's no age limit.

" I let her do it"

None.

Halloween isn't really a thing here, but last year the elderly home organized a Trick or Treating event where everyone was invited, but it was mainly setup to give the elderly a fun activity.

I don't think I've ever seen people enjoy dressing up for Halloween as much as they did.

If it's the end of the evening and you're 47 with no costume and driving a beatup Civic, I'll happily dump candy in your backpack so that I don't have it sitting at home tempting me to eat it.

If you show up to my house in a costume, you're getting candy at any age.

Honestly, I don't really set an age limit. I won't judge people who are out for fun. I've been there, there's not much to do around where I live.

That being said though... Regardless of your age, if you costume up, you're likely to get more candy from me. (I'll also offer candy to parents and older siblings who aren't taking part because I'm cool like that. Just don't stick chocolate bars in your pockets LMAO)

I’d just be happy she has a costume on. Around here we get grown adults with no costumes asking for candy with their kids. I guess I enable them because I don’t want to call them out in front of their own kids, but come on.

I feel like there's no age where dressing up and knocking on doors becomes inappropriate. It's fun, it can increase social cohesion in a community, there's no reason for adults not to be a little silly, yadda yadda. Already now it's perfectly acceptable for an adult attending trick-or-treating children to dress up as well, but I think adults alone or in adult groups should be allowed to dress up as well.

But then there's the "asking for candy" part... Now I don't think there's any age where people should stop eating candy, either — but when you have the ability to easily buy (or even make) your own candy, then maybe it'd be a better idea to start giving out your candy to the houses you knock on, if you still want to go out in costume.

I dunno, just a thought. I wouldn't tell your sister to stop, though. We're all a little weird at the end of the day.

No age limit, you could literally be 80 at my door in a walker and you'd still get candy.

It's not like Candy is a valuable resource, if they want to dress up to get some M&M's then more power to them.

I used to think there should be an age limit, I think i officially stopped trick or treating at like 13 or 14. I live Halloween though and always did so I dressed up and trotted around with my little siblings to help keep an eye and make sure they were safe and didn't get too scared because we did have a few houses that often provided "tricks" with their treats.

Most of the adults tied to give me candy too even though I wasn't carrying a bag, some flat out refused my attempt at just saying I was chaperoning and not trick or treating. Got told by a few that I dressed up and that's the rules, I got candy without trying just because I wanted to have fun and spend time with my siblings.

I remember a few people giving my dad candy when he took me as a kid because he always dressed up with us. He even stayed back on the walk way as we walked up to the house and the old guy giving out candy yelled out "Hey Wolfman!" my dad looked up as he was dressed as a werewolf and got a reeses thrown to him with additional compliments on his costume.

All this to say is I don't think I'd give any side eye to anyone coming to get some candy, sometimes adults need a little pick me up as well and it just used to be fun seeing all the different costumes and creative stuff people would come up with or randomly scaring a couple older kids just by opening the door with whatever creepy costume I had that year.

18/20 because after that you ought to be able to be a candy-giver. This whole thing only works if we have enough candy-givers, and too late of a cutoff age skews the balance.

The older you are, the more effort I expect. A kid can get away with a cape and a mask. If an older teen comes, I expect full costume, not everyday clothes. Adult? You better be rocking a great cosplay. Not that I'd refuse anyone, but I'll be happiest giving treats to young children or people showing off really amazing effort in the costume department.

Honestly? Do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone or being a dick. Wanna put on a spooky costume and go ask the neighbours for candy? Please be my guest and I hope you have such a fun time. I guess you might get some funny looks but like, that's on them, not you. This doesn't even just apply to trick or treating.

You're never too old to enjoy something. The world is miserable enough, have ice cream for dinner once, go trick or treating, learn to ride a bike, have a sleepover with your friends, or do none of those things if you wouldn't derive joy from them.

120. I'll give a decrepit old dude candy, but i draw the line at actual vampires

No age. Anyone against fun social traditions is a jerk and a loser. I stand by my word.

There is no age limit. I will give candy to anyone in a costume that is trick or treating.

If you are an adult, and clearly an adult, then it's probably too old.

I'll still give you candy if I answer the door, but that is probably where you might creep some people out, or they give creeper vibes and don't trust answering the door.

That said, in my own experience, you are too old to trick or treat once you pass about 5'6" (~165 cm).

I remember finding out I was too old. After an event, some friends wanted to go trick or treating. I was in high school still, but just shy of 6 feet. Female friend the same age was just over 5', and another female friend that was a few years older was about 4'9".

Anyways, they trick or treated fine, and I got stares, and clearly treated differently. Clearly trick or treating is not about age, but perceived age. (and effort. If you're short and all covered up in your costume, no one will know or care... long as your voice isn't boss baby)

In my area, it is less age and more size. Someone that is large scares more people than a small person. I was large so stopped early, but a small woman with a mask could go quite a long time.

We have like 4 children in our neighbourhood. If an adult showed up at my door in costume, I'd be thrilled to get a visitor, give them candy and offer them booze (it's also common in my area for homes to offer drinks to parents who are chaperoning their kids).

On a similar note, when my son was about 7, my girlfriend at the time (who was 28) came with us in costume and and went up to houses with him with a candy bag and collected treats. The first couple houses, I actually felt like "this is a little embarrassing" but people just gave her candy and alcohol and I was like "You know what, this is fun!" I realized I was being a stiff adult and should just get over myself (a beer and a couple cup of hot cider with whiskey didn't hurt my attitude either).

In Mexico, there are two dates for "trick or treat". One is for kids (the Day of ~the Holly Innocents~ All the Saints) and the next day is for Day of the dead or Día de Muertos, which is for everyone, in a clearly adult-centric celebration. The treats in the first day are candy-like, in the second day it's very-Mexican-food-like.

Ask your sister which one would she celebrate. The rightest answer is both, the right is one or the other, the wrong is none.

Also, if she's watching after some kids, that's great and deserves a treat. Ultimately, as this post and comments suggests, it all depends on the people's heart.

Halloween is all but dead in my area, Seattle Washington. Only pockets of neighborhoods put up decoration. If you are able to get to my front door I don't care what you're wearing or how you got there. You get a treat. Anyone elitist with this is literally helping to kill the spirit of Halloween. The holiday hardly exists, stop trying to kill it more.

As long as your neighbors know you, any age is fine, just have fun and be happy don't worry about what other people think, just be mindful and empathetic and don't make people nervous