It’s October and that means it’s time to visit pumpkin patches, watch “Halloween Town” or “Twitches”, and most importantly, dress up for trick-or-­treating. I love trick-­or-­treating, but as I grow older, I have to wonder: is it still a fun event or an annoying night of disappointing turns. Celebrating Halloween is an honored tradition celebrated by mostly everyone each year trick-­or-­treating is the best part of it, but eventually everyone reaches the age where they’re just too old.

The temperature of Halloween is usually awful. Every year it ends up being so cold that running around outside for hours is not an ideal night. I even remember one year where it snowed, and my mom put my bright pink, puffy coat underneath my Halloween costume. I was an overweight Snow White that year.

Sometimes opening the door to give trick-­or-­treaters candy is a dreaded time. That blast of cold air that hits you is probably the most unpleasant moment of the night. My heart goes out to the kids with the bright orange pumpkin candy basket, wrapped in scarves and wearing 2 sets of gloves. Their teeth chatter as they ask you for the Almond Joys you decided to buy that year, but know they’ll never end up eating.

The number one rule about trick-­or-­treating is manners. If you go up to someone’s door without saying please or thank you, you’re doing it wrong. The worst thing is when someone comes up to your door, grabs candy, and then runs off. People are essentially giving you free candy, the least you could do is rattle off a “trick-­or-­treat” or “Happy Halloween!”

Some of my best childhood memories come from Halloween night including staying up past my bedtime which was the coolest thing you could do. Let’s be realistic, Edina High School is always filled with drowsy teens, so staying up too late isn’t that big of a deal now a days. The thrill of being up past 10 o’clock is a natural thing now, and unfortunately the idea of going to bed at 10 seems early. But if we’re staying up late doing homework, we might as well run out to the neighbors and get some sweets for a scheduled sugar crash.

There is of course the dreaded candies you always end up getting in your bag. The number one worst thing is raisins of course. Raisins aren’t even a real candy. If you’re handing this out, you are the hated neighbor. The other worst thing is getting Play­do or a bouncy ball, I mean that’s not even food! There is nothing more disappointing than when when the candy you were going to stash underneath your bed for the next three months turns out to be nasty old people food. Children do not like Werther’s, I’m sorry but that is the saddest thing to find in your candy bag.

All in all these shouldn’t be things high schoolers have to worry about anymore. Once you’ve hit the age of being able to drive you shouldn’t be running the streets with a pillow case. People hate seeing a 17 year old running around with elementary school aged kids. Have a Halloween party with your friends instead, and be safe!