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Trunk-or-treating is a newish Halloween tradition where people gather in parking lots and decorate their vehicles for kids to visit for treats and games. The trend has been growing over the past few years. 

Considered to be a safer alternative to traditional, door-to-door trick-or-treating, it doesn’t involve kids walking through dark neighbourhoods at night, and is believed to have started with church groups in the United States in the 1990s. 

Vernon resident Dave White is hosting a free trunk or treat event for the fifth year in a row at the Vernon Kal Tire Place parking lot on Oct. 19 through his business Sundance Martial Arts.

“I got the idea from an organization out of the States that I work with and it’s growing every year,” he said. “Last year we had over a thousand families, it’s why we’ve had to move from our business lot to Kal Tire.” 

While trunk-or-treating has emerged as a safer alternative to traditional trick-or-treating, the parents and Halloween lovers iNFOnews.ca talked to said it isn’t necessarily reducing the number of trick-or-treaters, it’s part of a shift in how the traditional Halloween night is celebrated which appears to be geared toward safety. 

“I don’t know that it’s replacing trick-or-treating, a lot of trunk or treat events are held in the weeks leading up to Halloween,” White said. “It’s geared toward younger kids who are too young to be out safely by themselves and it gives them a chance to test out their costumes.”

White is seeing a trend where older kids are trick-or-treating in neighbourhoods where lots of households participate and homes handing out candy are closer together.

“There are certain neighbourhoods in Vernon that everyone gravitates toward, where people can drop kids off in groups," he said.  

Angus Reid Institute's 2023 poll says 54 per cent of Canadians believe there are fewer kids trick-or-treating in their neighbourhood compared to a decade ago, while about 35% said their community is less safe than it was a decade ago.

The same poll said the vast majority of Canadians had kids trick-or-treating that year.

Kamloops resident Ali Lantz is doing a combination of both celebrations this year by decorating her big diesel truck and filling the trunk with candy, then driving to different areas of town to greet trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

“Kids are always into big, fun things like this,” she said. “I only heard about trunk-or-treating this year but I don’t want to be parked in a designated area, I’ll move around so kids in other neighbourhoods can participate.”

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Lantz has received comments on social media saying her moving trunk-or-treat could encourage children to approach strange vehicles.

“I understand the safety concern, and the concerns for kids going out trick-or-treating with today’s crime,” she said. “When I was little there wasn’t any concern, you’d go around communities where you didn’t know anyone, that was the one night you could go to random houses and it wasn’t an issue.”

Lantz, 24, grew up in a rodeo family near Oliver where kids would dress up their horses for Halloween and ride around the block before heading out unsupervised to trick or treat.

She said since COVID and an increase in crime, people seem to be more leery.

“I want to bring the tradition back where families can be comfortable coming together and realize it’s not all bad out there,” she said. “It’s just for one night, it’s Halloween, I think it’s good I can help bring people together.” 

Kamloops mother Candace Romanoff said trunk-or-treat events are growing and this year she's hosting one at her kid’s school. 

“Some parents only let their kids trunk-or-treat due to safety reasons, but we go trick-or-treating afterwards too," she said.

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Kamloops resident Brandie Bugg hasn’t seen a difference in the number of kids coming to her door on Halloween over the past several years. She takes her young son out trick-or-treating every Halloween. Like White, Bugg said older trick-or-treaters gravitate to certain neighbourhoods.

“I think it really depends on the area of town you’re in,” she said. “Last year was pretty decent, I left a bowl of candy out and it was empty when I got home from trick-or-treating. Now I’ve moved to a different part of town, I’m interested to see what happens.”

Bugg is seeing another Halloween trend on social media encouraging residents to leave bowls of candy at the end of their driveways or bottom of steep stairs to allow children in wheelchairs to access candy.

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