Trick or Treating, Saturday or Sunday?

   According to WTKR’s website, Poquoson, has moved their Halloween trick-or-treating to Saturday, October 30th, instead of on Halloween, October 31st. Although this change of date has been widely accepted, there are still many people who strongly disagree with this decision.

 Many people believe that moving trick-or-treating to Saturday is a good idea because it helps to keep kids safe. Halloween night can be very dangerous and by moving it to Saturday, you can change trick-or-treating to be during the day. Some parents argue that moving trick-or-treating to Saturday would make Halloween extra fun and less stressful. Parents won’t have to worry about getting their children to bed on time. They also won’t have to worry about getting them ready for school the next day. They would have the entire day to do lots of fun Halloween activities. Moving trick-or-treating would minimize negative impacts on schools and the learning of children. Do you remember when you were in elementary school and it just so happened to be Halloween, how exited you were? Do you remember how you couldn’t focus on anything? This happens to many kids, so by having trick-or-treating on Saturday, it would help children to focus better in school. Some schools celebrate Halloween by having costume parades or handing out candy. This can have a negative impact on students whose parents can’t afford to buy them fancy costumes or people who wear inappropriate costumes. This can also have a negative impact on kids with food allergies.

Some parents argue that having Halloween on Saturday is a horrible idea because Saturday is statistically the most dangerous night of the week. Because you would have an entire Saturday to do something, people may go out to bars and drink earlier in the day. They may continue drinking throughout the night causing drunk driving accidents. By essentially celebrating Halloween on Saturday, you would ignore traditions and religious aspects of Halloween. Halloween started as a pagan festival called Samhain. Samhain was when ancient Celts celebrated the end of the summer and it was when the ghosts of the dead would return to earth. In Catholic culture, All Hollow’s Eve falls on Halloween and is observed as well. Some parents also argue that by having Halloween on a Saturday, you would have more troublesome kids. Some parents believe that children may pull more pranks like egging and toilet papering houses. They argue that these pranks could only become more dangerous. 

Which ever day you choose to celebrate Halloween, here’s a list of local trick or treating times:

Portsmouth~ Trick or treat on October 30th from 3-6pm.

James City County~ Trick or treat on October 31st from 6-8pm.

City of Williamsburg~ Trick or treat on October 31st from 6-8pm

York County~ Trick or treat on October 31st from 6-8pm.

Virginia Beach~ Trick or treat from dusk until 8pm.

One thing to note is that COVID-19 guidelines should continue to be followed while trick or treating. 

Going trick or treating on Saturday is not just happening locally. People all over the U.S. are beginning to change to this. What do you think? Do you agree with having trick or treating on Saturday or do you believe you should go trick or treating on Sunday? Does this open up an opportunity to trick or treat for two nights?