Celebrating Halloween as a autistic Adult

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Tomorrow is the first day of Fall and i am very very excited! I lOVE LOVE LOVE the fall and that means my favourite holiday. HALLOWEEN!

I love everything about halloween and celebrate it from october 1st to October 31st. i watch halloween related movies,decorate attend halloween parties, dress up, eat halloween themed treats and most importantly i trick or treat. Although i saw something in the news that really broke my heart..

In my province a city passed a bylaw stating that children only under 16 are permitted to go trick or treating. Which i deem EXTREMELY unfair.

im 20 and have never missed a halloween. as you can imagine i panicked but was slightly relieved to read that it wasn't in my community, but i still feel uneasy.

I know some older teens and adults look to cause trouble on halloween night or mooch off just "free candy" but i have never done anything bad during halloween, i never even stayed past curfew!

Does any other autistic adult here share my struggle? Its a annual tradition for me and it makes me really happy to go. i dont feel im too old at all to go out door to door. I even have a costume already; Velma from scooby Doo!

I am with the city fathers on that one. Forget 16! Anyone over 14 who still trick or treats needs an ass-kicking.

Especially nowadays when Halloween is more and more used by adults for parties. Just put on the same costume you woulda used for trickortreating, and hang with other grown ups at a party.

I'd love to be able to trick-or-treat again. But I don't have anyone to trick-or-treat with anymore and I'm to nervous to walk around in the dark when stupid teens can attack me. There's a party at a club for people with mental illness and disabilities I go to just about every year, but they're just getting more and more lame. The music is way too loud, they play too many lame songs and not enough songs that sound cool for Halloween. I ask them to play "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas and they act like I'm asking for a new kidney. When I do the Thriller dance no one gets up to dance with me and I look like a fool. No one listens to a thing I say, and all I get for best costume if I win is free meal tickets, which I never use. I get bored and restless and no one notices or cares about that either, and I usually end up leaving early. Last year I changed back into my regular clothes and went to a couple of nearby stores that were still open before finally going home, but that was boring, too. There might be some decent food and treats I can take home. I guess there needs to be adults to hand out the candy, but no one even comes to my place so what's the point? I still plan to decorate and wear a costume. Today I bought new decorations and even some orange and purple lights, and some satin fingerless gloves for the vampire costume I've decided to wear.

I'm planning to carve a pumpkin this year that will have a stuffed toy Minion or Emoji in its jaws with fake blood and stuff to make it look like the Jack-o-Lantern is viciously devouring it. Maybe if I put it on display outside it'll end up on the news. If the punk teenagers don't smash it first.

We don't even greet trick or treaters at the door. We haven't done so in a long time. Some of the people who come to the door are not kids and are far taller than I am. They are also from out of town. I don't open my door to anyone I don't know ever, much less on Halloween.

I have dressed up at adult parties in Toastmasters and other activities. Last year, I wore a shirt with a black cat on it. I also dressed as a tennis player.

I kinda wish trick or treating happens from where I live. At all.



Instead, we hangout in the cemetery at night. Usually with the living... And the dead.
And the setting is usually crowded and festive.

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We don't really celebrate Halloween here; even as a kid I never went trick or treating... actually, for a long time I thought that when kids say "trick or treat" they mean that they want a trick or a treat, not that it's a threath about a trick if they don't get treats.

I did go to some Halloween parties in my early teens, but since I've dropped almost all contact with those people I don't have those anymore. These days my Halloween is about buying these really good candies that they only sell during Halloween from a nearby grocery store and sometimes some other Halloween stuff that I find interesting. I've also bought some candy that I can give every year after moving from my parents' house, but so far there has been no one behind my door.

As for trick or treating in your age, as long as it's not forbidden in your area to do it in your age then go for it if you want to, but remember that it's okay for others not to give you candy because you're an adult (or because of any other reason they decide not to give you any.) As long as we're talking about free candy the people who paid for them are the ones who get to decide who gets them and others have no right to complain.

Can you go as the guardian/companion to a group of little kids you know?

Do adults accompany kids trick or treating? If so, you could probably get away with being the adult guardian; if you have nieces or nephews, or younger cousins, or you know the neighbor kids or babysit anyone, you might be able to offer to be the person who goes with them on trick or treating.

I've know grownups who also just go to their own Halloween parties dressed up. In my former city, there was even a tradition of grownups heading downtown and "parading" around the district where the clubs and bars are; it was just a circuit walk in a cordoned off area of the street, nothing fancy, but everyone enjoys putting on a costume and doing the walk around the street there.

Halloween is the only holiday I celebrate -- don't even celebrate my birthday (not even as a kid). However, I don't celebrate it like everyone else. My way is to make a list of all the dead people that were positive influences in my life & take time to figure out how I can do those things for other people so I can be part of a positive chain. Also, I choose an activity. Once I binge watched the 80's cartoon series 'The Real Ghostbusters', & also all 3 original Ghostbusters movies while I put together a model of Ecto 1. This year I'm making coin art & coin jewelry. They are good gifts to give away because it only costs cents & time. Not sure what I'll be binge watching this year -- maybe the series 'Once Upon a Time'. It will take all month to see all 6 seasons. I was liking the Marvel series on Netflix, but the 1st episode of Luke Cage was so bad I couldn't continue watching that one. I want more Daredevil & Jessica Jones. Iron Fist was good, but the conclusion made me not care if there was another season.

Goodness people! Why so mean?

I would personally not mind at all if adults came trick-or-treating. I want to trick-or-treat for the rest of my life! I'm going as Simon Cowell this year, and it is so exciting! Don't let some people drag you down ZombieBride!

The last time I went trick-or-treating was when I was 13. I went alone. It was one of the most depressing nights of my life.

It was considered "too old" to trick-or-treat at 13 in those days.

Nowadays, one does have to be careful about who they open their doors to. It's good that some adults are now trick-or-treating and enjoying themselves.

I wish we could go back to the days when little kids could go from house to house alone trick-or-treating- without fearing some pervert would accost them, or some idiot put razor blades in their candy.

Goodness gracious, Halloween doesn't seem that dangerous where I live! It is annoying to have to watch out for dangers though. Why can't we all just have fun?^^^^^^

I don't mind adults going trick-or-treating. I always plan to be a kid at heart, even if I seem like an adult, and I never want to stop trick-or-treating . If it is fun for somebody, than why do people want to ruin their fun?

You go be you! I totally support you in your enthusiasm for the holiday. I don't think there's anything wrong with a 19 year old in an excellent costume trick-or-treating. Your good costume should be a badge that you are not just mooching candy but really into the holiday.

Here's a thought. I wonder if you could offer your services to parents to help take their kids around for trick-or treating. Maybe some older kids who are just slightly too young to be out on their own?

That way, you can continue to enjoy the holiday and also enjoy being an adult, which you are, and adult, that is.

Being with the younger kids might really help you keep that halloween spirit alive!

Im sure theres grown ups out there who like to dress up as slenderman and sneak to peoples houses at night to give em nightmares or creep up on other people in the forest

No desire to trick or treat cause if I wanted candy I'd go to a store and buy some but can understand others find that fun. I did as a kid. I would dress up in a costume and go to a halloween party except I don't like parties so I dont know who I would be dressing up for?