Is Overage Trick-Or-Treating Illegal In Utah?

You put the finishing touches on your Shrunken Head Bob from *Beetlejuice* costume, and you look good. You're excited to go to a party with friends, and then the true horror of Halloween happens: your party gets canceled. What do you do? Your costume is too good to stay at home, but are you too old to go out and trick-or-treat?

This has been a question for all of us, especially for maturing youngsters. You could tag along with younger kids and act like their chaperone, but is that necessary?

Well, it may surprise you that some states actually have laws on the books that ban you from the door-to-door candy begging.

Believe it or not, some places have tried to *legally* limit Halloween fun. In Chesapeake, Virginia, they used to have a city rule that capped the trick-or-treating age at 12. Get caught collecting candy over that age, and you were looking at a potential misdemeanor with up to six months in jail or a fine between $25 and $100. Can you imagine explaining that one? “Yeah, I was locked up for hitting the candy trail a little too hard…”

Luckily, nobody ever really enforced this spooky statute, and in 2019, Chesapeake officials upped the age limit to 14 and ditched the penalties. But if you think that’s wild, Charleston, South Carolina, says no candy for anyone over 16, and Belleville, Illinois, has kept their 12-and-under rule on the books since 2008.

But do such laws exist in Utah? Thankfully, no—there’s no rule in Utah banning people from trick-or-treating, except for the rule of social pressure.

So grab your bag and give it a go, just make sure you have thick vampire skin if someone shames you.