When I was a child I looked forward to Halloween and trick-or-treating. When I was younger my parents would walk us around to the houses of friends and neighbors. We’d walk up to the front door, ring the doorbell, and shout trick-or-treat. When we were a little older we were allowed to go with our friends and spend a few hours collecting candy from the houses in the neighborhood. Admittedly we knew most of the people who lived within a 1-mile radius and we didn’t visit the houses of the people we didn’t know. This left our parents sitting home by themselves passing out candy.
Now I don’t think I would allow my nine year old to go trick or treating with just a friend. I don’t know many of the people who live on my street and would be worried the entire time. Yet I also wouldn’t want to spend the amount of time trick-or-treating that a child that age would. Plus I have younger children that are tired long before my oldest is. I also don’t like the fact that Halloween isn’t really a family holiday as older children go off with friends and parents sit home answering the door. So what is the answer? A Trunk or Treat of course.
Every year my children go trunk-or-treating instead of trick-or-treating. A few weeks before Halloween our church passes out fliers with the date and time of the trunk-or-treat, encouraging members to invite their friends and neighbors to the event as well. (If Halloween falls on a Sunday the trunk-or-treat is held on Saturday.) At a predetermined time we drive to our local church and everyone parks their cars with their trunks facing the sidewalk. Then the parking lot is coned off so no cars can drive in. Everyone is encouraged to come not just church members.
In the parking lot every family opens up their trunk and serves treats from their car. Instead of walking from house to house my children and I walk from car to car while my husband passes out treats. For parents with younger children this is a lifesaver. One year my daughter insisted I carry her most of the time. Luckily for me the distance from car to car is a lot less than from house to house.
Trunk-or-treating takes a lot less time than traditional trick-or-treating. So after the trunk-or-treat we often munch candy and watch a movie as a family or get together with friends. When we get home we keep our porch light turned off since our candy is usually all gone. This is also nice because it means we get some quality family time without the constant interruption of trick-or-treaters.
Besides trunk-or-treating at a church I have heard of neighborhoods lining their cars up on a certain street and having a neighborhood trunk or treat.
I believe that there are a lot of advantages of trunk-or-treating over trick-or-treating.
- It is safer. Children are not wandering through the streets. The risk of being hit by a car is greatly decreased. The church also offers plenty of light.
- The entire thing takes about half an hour. My children can almost fill up a plastic pumpkin in a short amount of time.
- You and your children have the opportunity to see many friends that don’t live right in your neighborhood and that you would otherwise not see.
- You know the people that your child is getting their candy from.
Try organizing a trunk-or-treat at your local church or neighborhood and start enjoying Halloween.