When I say “trick-or-treating as an adult”, I do not mean putting on a store-bought costume and knocking on your childhood neighborhood doors, begging your neighbors to give you candy.
Instead, I mean to say how trick-or-treating has changed as an adult when you still participate in the same family traditions.
When I was growing up, my family always got together to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. We would go out to eat together before hand, usually in our costumes, and visited our older relatives before hitting the streets. This year we did the exact same thing, but as a 20-year-old college student, everything was similar yet extremely different at the same time.
The first word (and really only word) to describe the night was crazy. There were so many people, too much running, lots of screaming, and dark, uneven sidewalks. I probably ran after my cousins about ten times and tripped over the sidewalk about 30.
The craziness was not something I was expecting. When I look back on my childhood trick or treating days, all I remember is candy, costumes, and a lot of fun. Not to say trick or treating as an adult is not fun, it is just a different type of fun. It was exhausting, stressful, worrisome, but definitely fun, and completely rewarding.
One of the best parts of the night was helping the kids walk up to houses, say “trick-or-treat”, and get candy. When I was little, I always had someone older there to help me out who was not one of my parents. To help the younger generation and to be that older person who is looked up to was an amazing experience and brought the whole thing full circle.
Although most of the time was crazy stressful with a few temper tantrums thrown in, the end of the night was by far the best. After all the candy was collected and the porch lights went out, two toddlers dressed as Mickey Mouse and a character from Puppy Dog Pals walked hand in hand back to the house, babbling away.
I enjoyed being on the other side of Halloween trick-or-treating. I loved watching my younger family members have the time of their lives. I had a lot of fun with everyone, talking, scaring one another, and not focused on candy, candy, candy. This Halloween was a different kind of Halloween, but it is one I will look forward to celebrating for years to come.