Trick or treating.

If you’re out of the loop, it may surprise you to learn that Trick or Treaters have dropped in numbers by almost 50% in recent years.

They’re still putting on costumes and walking around with a bag asking for candy, but now they’re doing it in a mall or a community centre. In other places, kids simply walk around a church parking lot and adults give them candy out of the popped trunk of their car. Seriously. Walking around a mall with a bag while wearing cape or having your face painted as a cat can hardly be called Trick or Treating. I saw a kid in cape walking around the mall this summer, was he Trick or Treating? I’m not certain what inspired the changes to traditional Trick or Treating. As is usually the case, I’m sure it’s been seemed an issue of safety. Going to your Grandma’s place or a family friend is safe, and I know they don’t live in a mall. If safety issues are solved by kids receiving candy out of the trunk of a car, then I can only hope the brilliant mind behind the idea isn’t Chief of Police. In general, getting goods out of the trunk of a car is not a pattern you want to establish with your children. You could put forth the suggestion that it’s too cold to Trick or Treat, but that argument will be passionately swept aside by the thousands who had to wear their snowsuit under their Halloween costume. We never complained. In fact, consider yourself lucky. It’s warm in the mall, but it’s not Trick or Treating. Gap sells clothes, not candy. Don’t let it die.