Man Makes Himself 'Fake Kids' Costume To Fool People Into Giving Him Candy On Halloween
Should there be an age limit to celebrating Halloween?
Yuting Gao / Pexels Halloween is a holiday that many people look forward to all year. People count down until October 31st, waiting for the air to turn crisp and the temperatures to drop low enough to whip out decorations. This usually follows the surge of pumpkin spice latte orders — it's a sign that fall has come!
Halloween is a time for dressing up, pretending to be someone that you are not, and getting a lot of candy in the process. But there seems to be trick-or-treating etiquette or an unspoken rule that only children up to a certain age can go door to door asking for treats, but adults can’t.
One man was determined to participate in Halloween, wearing a costume of two fake children attached to him in order to fool people into giving him candy.
TikTok user @shermanschaffeldfx created a costume by using metal rods attaching two fake children to his jacket and a lever to move only the arms of the fake children to make it more realistic. The arms of the jacket are stitched into his pockets, allowing him to move the levers without raising suspicion.
The person behind the camera then assists him in his endeavor to get “twice as much candy” by recording him going to houses, using a child's voice to say, "Trick or Treat!" and, "Thank you!"
The man manages to fool everyone that he comes across, filling his "children's" buckets with candy. The video highlights the feeling many adults have about celebrating Halloween and participating in its traditions.
For many adults, Halloween just doesn't feel the same as it used to.
There was a time when we would see kids filling up the streets in their costumes, their parents following behind to whisper to their kids what to say to be polite, and then rush straight home to indulge in as much candy as possible (or what the parents allowed so they could eat the rest).
What happened to that same feeling? There are people who say that they don't see trick-or-treaters on their streets anymore. Maybe it has something to do with technology, with how more and more people are opting to stay in, and are trading costumes and candy for time spent on phones and tablets.
But, as anyone will notice on social media, there are plenty of people participating in Halloween fun! While some streets may be completely deserted on Halloween, there are plenty of blocks nearby that are bustling with people decked out in costumes, excited to get candy, especially with that one house that gives out king-sized candy bars.
According to the National Retail Federation, it seems that Halloween is very popular, as the staggering spending record is "$12.2 billion, exceeding last year’s record of $10.6 billion," with people spending on decorations, candy, and costumes. While we may not see many trick-or-treaters, especially as adults, Halloween is still incredibly popular.
Photo: Jill Wellington / Pexels
Should there be an age limit to trick-or-treating?
Personally, I stopped trick-or-treating when I was 12, since I was approaching my teen years and thought it wasn’t cool anymore to do it. That has likely happened to others who were coming of age, but not everyone feels the same.
Not everyone thinks that trick-or-treating as a teenager or an adult is uncool, as there are plenty of people older than 12 continuing the Halloween tradition. But there are varying opinions on what the age limit should be for trick-or-treaters.
In Canada, a town called Bathurst, New Brunswick had a bylaw where trick-or-treaters had to be under the age of 14, and there was a curfew at 7 p.m. Despite this bylaw not being enforced, there were people who wanted it to be; the bylaw ended up being updated to forbid anyone older than 16 from trick-or-treating and changed the curfew to 8 p.m. It still seems to be in effect to this day.
It is strange that there are limitations placed on how people should celebrate Halloween, including setting age limits, as this day is supposed to be a day of fun. Adults deserve to participate in trick-or-treating. Why does there have to be this unspoken rule that they can’t?
As @shermanschaffeldfx said in their video, “Let's bring back Halloween. No matter how old you are, Halloween's for everyone.”
Amani Semper is an editorial intern on YourTango's news and entertainment team.