Last year I caused a firestorm by advocating that we save trick-or-treat and not accept trunk-or-treat. I respond to the criticism I received in this post.
Trunk or treat is sooo fucking depressing to me. The best trick or treating I ever did in my life as a kid (and which made me adore Halloween entirely) was in rural Iowa, so I find the first two arguments asinine.
I think the best way to deal w Halloween's overall trick or treat decline is to have neighborhoods come together as one and agree to decorate. I thought about throwing a decoration party where I bring cider and treats to different houses at a designated time to chat with neighbors and help w decor if they need it. And my hope would be the neighbors embrace the tradition and it becomes it's own annual, spirited block party.
Ryan- This is such an interesting article with trunk-or-treat at the forefront. Admittedly, I had never heard of trunk-or-treat until I came to America. And once I did, it sort of made me wonder: why not just ring the doorbell, then? Which definitely echoes some of the points you made here. I personally prefer the neighborhood feeling of trick-or-treat, where for one day a year, kids are allowed to be kids and ring at the neighbors' doorbells. It feels like it's a much more natural thing to do.
Thanks! Great to hear from you. My international students are always infatuated with Halloween and trick-or-treat. Such a fun American culture I get to share with them! Glad you are enjoying it too.
Trunk or treat is sooo fucking depressing to me. The best trick or treating I ever did in my life as a kid (and which made me adore Halloween entirely) was in rural Iowa, so I find the first two arguments asinine.
I think the best way to deal w Halloween's overall trick or treat decline is to have neighborhoods come together as one and agree to decorate. I thought about throwing a decoration party where I bring cider and treats to different houses at a designated time to chat with neighbors and help w decor if they need it. And my hope would be the neighbors embrace the tradition and it becomes it's own annual, spirited block party.
Yes agreed! Same experience in rural Oklahoma where im from.
I like that, and I have seen some neighborhoods do it well. Hopefully more will follow suit. It is such great memories for kids.
Ryan- This is such an interesting article with trunk-or-treat at the forefront. Admittedly, I had never heard of trunk-or-treat until I came to America. And once I did, it sort of made me wonder: why not just ring the doorbell, then? Which definitely echoes some of the points you made here. I personally prefer the neighborhood feeling of trick-or-treat, where for one day a year, kids are allowed to be kids and ring at the neighbors' doorbells. It feels like it's a much more natural thing to do.
Thanks! Great to hear from you. My international students are always infatuated with Halloween and trick-or-treat. Such a fun American culture I get to share with them! Glad you are enjoying it too.
My college town neighborhood is a destination neighborhood and we’re proud of it.
Trunk or treat is a supplement, rarely on Halloween itself, and targeted for pre-schoolers.
Nice! Yes there is a lot of civic pride in having a destination neighborhood. It’s often a lot of work! I used to live in one, too. So fun.
The follow up piece to this one was on those such neighborhoods https://www.collegetowns.org/p/where-have-all-the-trick-or-treaters?utm_source=publication-search