By Jacob Harvey –
With promises of free candy and a night with your friends, it’s no wonder kids enjoy Halloween.
But how old is too old for Trick-or-Treating? In some areas around the country, it is illegal for people over a certain age to Trick-or-Treat.
Although, in the surrounding Penn Manor area, there is no age limit or law restricting people from taking advantage of people’s good will, according to the Penn Manor Resource Officer Jason Hottenstein.
Many believe there should be rules mandating the popular holiday.
“Without a doubt there should be an age limit, and it should be 14 because it’s a holiday for the younger kids, and people dressing up who are in high school are just ruining it for the younger kids,” said Eric Howe an administrator at Penn Manor.
It’s not just the parents who feel this way, Penn Manor senior Cody Diehl also has similar opinions regarding Halloween.
“I think it’s fine for older people to trick-or-treat if they are with a younger sibling, but when older kids do it by themselves it’s just not right for them to take the candy that should be for the younger kids,” said Diehl.
Some argue that an age limit could be detrimental, because people in high school deserve to enjoy the holiday just as much as younger kids.
“I think high school kids should be allowed to participate in Halloween because it’s just a good time to have with your friends and not every kid over 14 is going to be trying to cause mischief,” said Penn Manor Senior Alex Sorce.
Mandating Trick-Or-Treating ages can be complicated. What about a family with a 17 year old son and two younger siblings? Would it be illegal for the 17 year old to enjoy the holiday with his family? That doesn’t seem fair, and Penn Manor assistant principle Krista Cox agrees.
“I think that there are families that really engage the holiday and have fun with it, and an age limit could ruin it for more spaced out families,” said Krista Cox, an Administrator at Penn Manor High School.
There is a national law that restricts anyone over the age of 16 from wearing a mask at any time. If you are caught being 16 or older and wearing a mask, the person will be asked to remove the mask and not wear it in public places again.
However, there’s is no restriction on the age for Trick-Or-Treating and the worst that can happen is the owner of the house will tell the overage Trick-Or-Treaters that they are too old and will not give them candy.
If that happens they will probably just turn around and go to the next house.
So far around Lancaster County there is no age restriction and people who are older and trying to Trick-Or-Treat are free to do so as long as they aren’t wearing a mask or causing any problems with the law.