COMMENT: Annoying teenage trend ruining Halloween

"This is why people are choosing to no longer interact with children on the street but chuck treats from the safety of their balcony - wouldn’t you?"

Here I am showing my age, but I remember the first time I went trick or treating, it wasn’t really a thing.

Only a few houses were decorated, even less had treats, and although I enjoyed the dressing-up part, it was all a bit of a letdown.

Today (in 2023) it’s a different story. Like it or not, Halloween in Australia has well and truly arrived, and if your kids are anything like mine, trick or treating places second only to opening presents on Chrissie morning. In other words, it’s a big deal.

We are lucky enough to live around the corner from a street that really pulls out the stops, and the first time we attended with my eldest (now seven), my jaw was practically dragging across the floor. I had expected the costumes and the lollies, but I didn’t anticipate the sheer level of effort - entire houses decked out tip to toe, parents who had taken the afternoon off to dress up as a gorilla and sit in their driveway - and most of all, a wonderful sense of community.

I came home with a whole new appreciation of what Halloween could mean, and I was so grateful to that entire street for hosting a giant party for our neighbourhood to enjoy.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.

Disturbing Halloween trend

The past couple of years, though, I’ve seen a worrying trend that has left a sour taste in my mouth, and I’m so sorry to say, it involves teenagers. I know, I know. Don’t @ me. Not yet, anyway. But what the hell is with teenagers and their bloody pillowcases on Halloween?

When I take my kids trick-or-treating, it’s with a small novelty bucket and a strict one-lolly-per-house rule.

The teenagers I’ve seen the past two Halloweens have been carting pillowcases stuffed to the brim with goodies, and apparently zero qualms about grabbing fistfuls of treats at the same time. I know this because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

My mum, who took my girls this year, said kids were on their phones informing their mates which house had the most loot, and said on more than one occasion she had to object to an older kid pushing in front of the smaller ones to grab as much stuff as they possibly could, sometimes even cleaning out the bowl. Other participating houses had taken to throwing lollies from their balconies in order to make sure they didn’t run out of treats after half an hour.

Believe me, it feels as gross writing this as it did watching it. It’s also a far cry from the magical, community-based Halloween I experienced only a few years ago.

Teenager trick or treating. Image: supplied

What went wrong?

This morning, I was venting about all this to my colleague - who has a teenage son - when she schooled me on my pillowcase objection. She made the very valid point that oftentimes pillowcases are used as a last-minute option (as a mother of three, I totally get the mental load) and also because, for a teen, carrying a Halloween bucket is no longer considered cool. OK, so I get this.

But I will counter that somewhere along the line, when the pillowcase entered the equation, the etiquette left it.

Of course kids are going to want to fill that baby up with as much swag as they can. Of course it’s going to turn into a competition. Of course there is going to be peer pressure to perform, to accumulate, to ‘win’. And this is why we’re seeing smaller children being pushed out of the way, and more and more houses with signs saying they’re out of sweets only an hour after the party started.

This is why people are choosing to no longer interact with children on the street but chuck treats from the safety of their balcony - wouldn’t you?

The people that host Halloween in my neighbourhood do so out of the goodness of their hearts. All that is asked is some gold coin donations (which go to charity) and top-up lollies. It’s a community event designed to bring families and neighbours together in the name of fun. What it’s not is an all-you-can-eat lolly Hunger Games where the biggest kids win.

So to parents of kids of all ages, I urge you to remind your kids what Halloween is really about. Yes, it’s about spooky costumes and thrills and having a good time with your mates. But it’s also about recognising your community is hosting a party for you, and to be appreciative and respectful of that.

Take your pillowcase if you must, but with it, your manners, your decency, some awareness of others, and a bloody gold coin.

Originally published as COMMENT: Annoying teenage trend ruining Halloween