You’re Never Too Old to Trick-or-Treat

Here at Flyby, we believe you are never too old to do anything — this includes trick-or-treating. In fact, we believe it’s even more fun to go trick-or-treating as a full-fledged adult, because no one can stop you from eating too much candy and falling into a candy coma. #adulting. Thus, in the name of journalism, we donned our costumes, grabbed our tote bags (since we couldn’t find trick-or-treat baskets) and headed into the wonderful neighborhoods of Cambridge in pursuit of tricks and treats.

To set the scene…

6:18 p.m. - Tina leaves from Mather in her pirate costume to find Alex at Paine Hall

6:38 p.m. - Tina arrives at Paine Hall; meets with Alex; starts trek to the Quad where Alex lives #quadlife <3

6:40 p.m. - Tina thinks they are lost, but Alex reassures her that this is her usual daily commute back to the Quad

6:48 p.m. - Tina and Alex arrive at the Quad; Alex starts to put on her cowboy costume

6:57 p.m. - Tina and Alex head out and the trick-or-treating festivities begin

By Tina Chen and Alexandra A. Kassinis

At first, we were kind of nervous about ringing people’s doorbells. This was Alex’s first time trick-or-treating in the U.S., and Tina’s first time going door-to-door trick-or-treating, so there was somewhat of an ~activation barrier~ to overcome. The first house on our list was Dean Khurana’s — but all lights were off, and we chickened out. #missedconnections…or so we thought.

We kept asking ourselves, What’s the worst that could happen? We were just two college kids, walking around in search of candy in the name of journalism. If people judge us, oh well, candy is candy. Tina lives in Mather, so she realized she didn’t care if people living near the Quad judged her anyways. With that mindset, we started ringing doorbells.

7:03 p.m. - We ring the doorbell to our first house. Well, more like we grab a piece of candy from a bowl on the front porch and bolt away before anyone sees. But, a win is a win. First candy secured. Tina got a Kit-Kat, Alex got a Snickers.

At this point, our activation barrier has been overcome and our adrenaline has kicked in. Nothing can stop us now. We zig-zag through the streets, hitting as many houses in a block as we can. We follow any children we see (not creepily), since they seem like a good indication of which houses to target. Alex yells at a rude driver who doesn’t stop at a crosswalk. As she should.

7:06 p.m. - Someone asks Alex how old she is. She says 21 and gets embarrassed. Luckily, we find and merge with another group of Harvard students who are also out trick-or-treating. Great minds think alike. Their costumes are space bunny, snow bunny, and sailor. Shoutout to them.

7:08 p.m. - Kind woman living in a well-decorated house gives us candy, is delighted to find out we are college kids from the area and welcomes us back for Christmas caroling. She lures us with the promise of hot cocoa and cookies. A new idea is born — Flyby Tries: Christmas Caroling???

7:19 p.m. - We continue in pursuit of more sweets. One house just has a bowl of Hershey kisses and a pile of chocolate-covered pretzels on the stoup. Tina says, “Is this safe?” Alex cautiously advises, “We probably shouldn’t eat those…” But, it’s too late since Tina has already eaten one. It was very yummy.

7:21 p.m. - We get slightly scared by a man sitting on his porch steps playing a reading of Dracula. But he shows us some beautiful pumpkins his kids carved, and lets us take 3 pieces of candy each, so we get over our fear pretty quickly.

7:32 p.m. - You may be wondering, why did we choose to trick-or-treat around the Quad? Well, while there are many possible answers, but only one that is truly correct: Elizabeth Warren. Lives. Near. the. Quad. While we did have to wait in a line to walk up to her porch, Senator Warren not only gave us candy but agreed to take a photo with us all!

By Tina Chen and Alexandra A. Kassinis

7:46 p.m. - The night did not end here. We decide to bring the night full-circle, and return to Dean Khurana’s house. Chocolate: secured. More importantly, Instagram feature: secured.

By Tina Chen and Alexandra A. Kassinis

7:55 p.m. - We call the night a success, marking the end of our trick-or-treating adventure. Tina struggles to find the shuttle stop at the Quad. Sigh.

Highlights of the night:

Halloween stamps. No explanation needed.

One woman ran out of candy and gave out trinkets such as seashells and crystals. Not as tasty, but sooo pretty.

FULL SIZE CANDY BARS!! A man fully pulled out a platter of giant Hershey’s chocolate bars (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory golden ticket chocolate bars) and insisted we all take one.

Elizabeth Warren. No explanation needed

Dean Khurana. No explanation needed.

Closing Thoughts:

TC: Absolutely doing this again next year. It was so fun getting to relive this part of childhood, trick-or-treating should just be normalized for everyone, no matter the age. I freed up my entire evening for this, and it did not disappoint. Heck, I even walked all the way from Mather to the Quad for this. Absolutely no regrets, I have soooo much candy to last me through the rest of this semester. Maybe Cambridge isn’t so bad after all…

AAK: Crazy amounts of free candy? Meeting cool people? Walking around spookily and beautifully decorated Cambridge mansions? Turns out I am a fan of all of these things. Trick-or-treating exceeded expectations – definitely doing this again next year and will not be embarrassed to admit how old I am again. Kudos to Tina for trekking to the Quad – ah, the things we do for Flyby.