I've said elsewhere, and I'll say it here again:

"Trick or Treat" is ritualized extortion. There is an implicit but clear threat to do some vandalism if the tricker is not bought off. I don't regard this as an appropriate activity to encourage in kids.

Now, someone will point out that "these are little kiddies!" and that the threat is not real.

Some of them are "little kiddies", granted, and the likelihood of harm from a disappointed little treat-seeker is small, indeed. But the little ones get big over time, and in the process have been taught a wrong way of thinking, sez I.

And some of the treat-seekers are definitely older, and are both able and willing to do some retaliatory harm.

Dave Oesterreich