“Concerned parents see it as safer for their children, while other parents see it as an easier alternative to walking the neighborhood with their kids….” Wikipedia states as it explains the growing trend of spending Halloween in a parking lot, or as we call it, Trunk-or-Treat. Instead of the classic, yet thrilling setting of lighted streets with people dressed up going house to house, we now go to a designated area where we are awaited by cars with candy in the trunks. Kids once anxiously awaited Halloween night, but now it seems like it’s just another day, with a small amount of candy added to your paper sack. I don’t even remember the last time I saw friends walking the streets, knocking on doors, trying to loot candy, what’s strange is that 10 years ago that’s all you saw October 31st for miles around. On a poll done by the New Jersey Journal’s website, more than half of the parents say that there kids will not be trick-or-treating door-to-door this year. Where do you suppose they will go get candy from on Halloween night? A trunk of course.

Time’s website says, “Hospitals have been offering to X-ray candy for decades, and this year a  forensic lab in DuPage County, outside Chicago, will inspect suspicious sweets using technology that’s usually reserved for homicide, sexual assault and  burglary. Health officials are warning against letting kids scoop up candy with  their germy hands, lest they spread H1N1 flu to other revelers. In Bobtown, Pa.,  spooked officials have banned trick-or-treating altogether.” Now, don’t you agree that this is over examining the innocent, single night a kid can dress up and get as much candy as desired? I see nothing wrong with a parent being concerned, but I do see something wrong with parents destroying the traditions we have enjoyed for many years.