Teenage trick-or-treating rises from the dead
Grace Ai | The Chronicle
As Halloween creeps around the corner, the community prepares to don their capes and tiaras to begin the candy crusade.
Many students at MHS look forward to the festivities that go hand in hand with the October holiday. From horror flicks to dressing up, sophomore Hiro Cedeno said there are always things to do with her friends on Halloween night.
“First [my friends and I] watch a scary movie, and then when trick-or-treating starts, we go around my neighborhood to wherever we see candy,” Cedeno said.
Cedeno said that the costumes are her favorite part of Halloween, whether it be seeing other people’s costumes or wearing her own. Dressing up gives kids the opportunity to connect with their creative side and fully embrace the holiday.
“Being able to have an excuse to dress up without being seen as a little kid is just amazing,” Cedeno said.
Others find that gathering sweets is the best part of the night, such as sophomore Sarah Wang. Wang also makes plans to meet up with her friends before trick-or-treating, planning out elaborate costumes and their route for optimal candy collecting.
“The first thing you have to do is find out whose neighborhood has the biggest houses,” Wang said. “It’s good to have a system, because you can’t be tempted [to start with] that one house with king-sized candy bars – if you follow the system, you’ll get to that house eventually.”
As the tradition goes, neighbors and friends alike often gather to show off their sugary spoils, bartering for the best peanut butter cups or sour gummies in order to better their collection. Wang is no different.
Freshman Lucian Chang said maximizing how much candy he obtains throughout the night is not the main priority. For him, the opportunity to enjoy a night with friends is the most meaningful aspect of Halloween.
“I don’t really have a strategy for trick-or-treating,” Chang says. “I just try to have fun with my friends. The best part is walking along the street, seeing everyone in their costumes and just having fun.”
Since Halloween is on a school night, trick-or-treating can be more difficult to balance in one’s schedule. Kids may have homework or studying to get done, minimizing their window for prowling neighborhood streets for sweets. However, dedicated trick-or-treaters like Wang said there are ways to work around it.
“The smartest thing to do is to finish all your homework beforehand so you don’t have anything to worry about,” Wang said. “I sleep pretty late, so I feel like trick-or-treating [late] wouldn’t make that much of a difference.”
Sophomore Riya Kaggal handles trick-or-treating similarly to Wang, finishing her schoolwork ahead of time. This year will be her second time trick-or-treating. Even though Halloween is often seen as a yearly tradition for children, Kaggal says that it does not have to be strictly for little kids.
“For teenagers, especially, it’s just a way to revisit their past and feel like a kid again,” Kaggal said.
Wang said that amid the stressors of high school, trick-or-treating can be seen as a form of freeing, childlike escapism for teenagers.
“I think I trick-or-treat because in day-to-day life, especially in high school, you get so busy with homework and extracurriculars and worrying about college applications that you really don’t get a chance to just unwind and have some fun,” Wang said.