Is Trunk or Treat a Better Alternative to Trick or Treat?

By Lucy Rafferty

Cars decorated at a trunk or treat event - Pixabay

In the lead-up to Halloween, many families are considering whether to participate in trick-or-treat, or to go a different route and opt for sweets from the boot of a car.

Trunk or treat is a well-known, American alternative to trick or treating; the concept is an arranged, designated area will be filled with decorated cars, and the costumed children will go car-to-car gathering their sweets rather than door-to-door.

The different boots may offer games, crafts and activities for children. The costume and car themes steer away from the spooky, scary normalities of Halloween and instead focus on keeping things light and cheerful as many young children attend.

It is usually organised within the community to make decisions such as location, dates and overall setup as easy as possible. It requires a large open space, such as a car park, and many volunteers to help set up, distribute food and water and handle the tickets.

Many people prefer this as it's seen as a safer alternative; young children are roughly four times more likely to be fatally hit by a vehicle than on any other night. This worries many parents as children roam the streets with one thing in mind, sweets. Their main concern isn't the vehicles on the road, or the doors they knock.

The idea of trunk or treat avoids children wandering dark neighbourhoods and knocking on strangers' doors and instead offers an inviting atmosphere for children to run around freely.

Even though it can be unsafe, many families enjoy the idea of wandering from door to door, collecting sweets and bobbing for apples. It allows for people with no children to participate in a holiday we all love.

The downside, however, is that trunk or treat is essentially training your child that it is completely fine to take sweets from random cars if someone is offering, which could put many children in dangerous situations if they don't know any better.