From Porches to Parking Lots
Halloween used to be simple: throw on a costume, grab a pillowcase, and march from porch to porch until your legs ached and your bag overflowed. The adventure wasn’t just about the candy; it was about the neighborhood itself: the spooky houses, the decorated yards, and the mystery of what waited behind each door.
Now? Increasingly, kids don’t wander the streets at all. They walk a loop in a church or school parking lot, collecting candy from car trunks. Safer? Sure. But in doing so, we’ve traded magic for efficiency.
The Safety Net Argument
Parents defend trunk-or-treats as safer alternatives. No cars zipping down dark roads, no strangers, no bad candy stories. Everything is controlled, contained, and supervised by volunteers and either a church or a school.
But safety nets can strangle tradition; sometimes even killing it. Trick-or-treating wasn’t supposed to be efficient. It was messy, unpredictable, and thrilling. It had a mystery and adventure; something a trunk-or-treat can never replicate.
The Death of Adventure
Part of Halloween’s magic was the adventure:
- Planning the best route to hit the “good houses.” You know the ones. The king-sized candy bars.
- Running across the street to catch up with friends. Feeling the crisp October air as you dart across the street with your friends was the best.
- Knocking on that one terrifyingly decorated house just to prove you weren’t scared. You know the one house that had a person in a black bodysuit and would jump scare the crud out of you. Yep. That one.
A row of SUVs with open trunks can’t deliver that. It’s the equivalent of trick-or-treating on easy mode.
Neighborhoods Lose Their Soul
When kids don’t walk the streets, neighborhoods lose their pulse. Porch lights stay off, decorations get packed away, and the sense of community fades. Halloween was one of the last nights when neighborhoods felt alive, kids everywhere, laughter echoing, porch lights flicking on and off like fireflies. Trunk-or-treat kills that, replacing porches with parking lots.
Parking lots take the adventure out of trick-or-treating. Trunk-or-treat is killing the best part of Halloween. And let’s be honest, many trunk-or-treat events don’t operate at night. Many of them take place during late afternoon to early evening hours instead of the thrill of nighttime hours.
Final Thought
Trunk-or-treat might be convenient. It might even feel safer. But in the process, we’ve hollowed out one of childhood’s greatest adventures. Real trick-or-treating wasn’t just about candy; it was about courage, community, and chaos. Not to mention adventure, mystery, and fun, roaming around the neighborhood at night with your friends.
And no matter how many SUVs you line up, you’ll never recreate the magic of running across damp lawns, pillowcase in hand, with the sound of leaves crunching under your sneakers and porch lights guiding your way.
