No age limit for trick-or-treaters

by HANNAH NELSON//Staff Writer

With Halloween just around the corner, everyone is getting into the spooky spirit.

This includes college students. When it comes to trick or treating, many may think that it is just for kids. However, trick or treating is a classic tradition that even college students can enjoy. 

Trick or treating is a great activity for college students to appreciate. College can be a rough time, and you contently are stuck in a state of adulthood. With the constant stress of tests, projects, and deadlines, students can feel overwhelmed.   Trick or treating gives students an opportunity to indulge in the innocence of this activity. It allows them to reconnect with their youth, while adding a mature twist. They have the ability to go have harmless fun and collect candy. Plus, who doesn’t need a small bucket of stress relief when finals approach?

Candy is a big part of trick or treating. However, it is not the only aspect involved. Costumes also play a big part in the festivities. For college students, getting dressed up before heading door to door can be a lot of fun. Trick or treating gives students a reason to dress up, when they regularly might not. It is a way for them to express individuality and creativity. You never fully outgrow your love for costumes and dress-up. Why shouldn’t college students be able to pick out, or create, a costume to go out in?

While the students are going door-to-door collecting candy, they are also getting involved in the community. For many young adults who head off to college, they rarely venture off the college campus. However, in order to properly trick or treat, they have to venture through the local neighborhoods. This allows community members from both the college and town to come together. The students are able to go up to people and introduce themselves, and possibly even talk with the people in town. It also benefits the town’s community members. They are able to socialize with the students that come in for college.

A main reason why trick or treating is such an ideal recreation for a college student is that it is a good alternative to other activities. During the Halloween season, there are parties left and right, especially on the weekend before Halloween. These parties can quickly get out of hand. A college student would never fully know what he or she was getting himself or herself into. Even the smallest of parties can quickly turn into something more. Plus, you never know who you may encounter, or what can happen.

Many people would rather see these teens and students harmlessly collecting candy, rather than partying that night. When you are trick or treating, you are in a far safer environment and under safer circumstances.

During the night of Halloween, students are going to want to have fun. It is simply part of the holiday spirit. A little trick or treating is not going to hurt anyone. It gives students the opportunity to relieve stress, collect some candy, dress up, and just have some fun. 

Trick-or-treating not for college students

by MATT MOLINAR//Opinion Editor

There’s nothing creepier than a grown person knocking on your door when you’re expecting an 8-year-old fairy.

It may be because I grew up as a sheltered child, but children wandering the streets at night are not a good idea. Children wandering the streets at night among adults is even more of a dangerous idea. Any parent would explain why this is a bad idea.

I understand that age does not relate when it comes to a passion, I guess, but young adults need to realize that it is not expected of older people to be knocking on people’s doors asking for candy.

An electrical engineering major at the University of Buffalo named Mishal Kanabar brags about his participation in Trick-or-Treating. He admits to using the help of alcohol during his candy-searching expeditions.

Drunken college students at a party can be funny, but when that kind of behavior is taken out into the streets, children can be at risk of being hit by a car, or even being abducted. Anything could happen with a drunken person.

To be quite honest, I find it a bit immature to be any older than 14 and walking door-to-door asking someone not much older than you for candy.

I do see the appeal in trick or treating. Free candy, showing off your creativity through creating a costume, or buying one, are definitely things that can be appealing to college students. Students can get exercise and free food. published by

If you pay attention to local news, you probably already know about the clown sightings that have been happening around the United States. Whether they have been proven to be real or fake, many of the sightings have been staged by young adults looking to cause slight panic. Because these “sightings” became so popular on social media, parents have become worried and will more than likely not be allowing their children to be Trick-or-Treating this fall. The uncertainty of clowns is what terrifies everybody.

Even during the day, on Halloween, I would rather just sit in bed and watch Halloween specials on TV just to avoid danger and avoid being shot by somebody for looking like a clown in the dark. If I saw a group of people in my front yard above the height of a child, I would be scared out of my mind.

In the city of Levelland, many of the residents who aren’t college students are the elderly and developing families. Older people really may not be open to the idea of people around the age of 20 doing what is expected specifically from children.

If you plan on going Trick-or-Treating anyway, do everyone a favor and don’t dress like a clown or get drunk before. It would probably be a good idea to just stay away from children, unless you happen to be accompanying them.