Halloween trunk-or-treat: Why people get annoyed by it, and why they shouldn’t.

If you’re an American, and if you have or know children, you probably know that this means it’s the season for “trunk or treat” celebrations. One study finds that “pedestrians aged 4 to 8 years a 10-fold increase in pedestrian fatality risk on Halloween.” Fears about children’s safety have long influenced how Americans view trick-or-treating. A spokesman said the church wanted to provide a nonreligious but Christian “alternative to the scary spook house themes, especially those that have occult overtones.” The Oct. 29, 1978, Orlando Sentinel similarly reported that the Pine Castle United Methodist Church would host their fourth annual “Celebration of Christ’s Light” on Halloween. The organizers were quoted as saying that the mainstream festival “makes evil seem fun and harmless” and that participating in Halloween would be “encouraging to open doors to the forces of darkness.” The emergence of churches and malls as venues for alternatives to trick-or-treating pointed to different sources of parental discontent with the Charlie Brown–style free-range approach: fears of physical danger and fears of letting children encounter a situation that the parent could not curate in advance. The Oct. 27, 1990, Sacramento Bee carried a description of a church “trunk-or-treat” event provided by a mother of five: “We know where coming from, so we know it’s safe, and they’re not out on the streets.” The Times Record News covered “Churches offering treatss without Halloween tricks”, including a “Trunk or Treat” activity at the Park Place Christian Church.