Some scary opinions about Halloween

 Friday is Halloween, which means one thing: You need to remember to buy candy – and get something you enjoy, because there aren't nearly as many kids who come to your house as used to, right?

But there are two other things you need to decide – the two burning questions of the holiday.

• Should you dress up?
• At what age should kids stop trick-or-treating?

First things first: On Friday, plenty of people will dress up for the big day – in nearly every workplace, there will be witches, baseball players, Maleficent, characters from "Frozen," and human bananas . . . and some of them won't even know it's Halloween! They're just people who dress strangely.

Seriously, some of us face a question of whether we should dress up for work.

My favorite dressing-up-at-Halloween story involves a former Daily Republic sports writer who, while working at another paper before coming to Fairfield, covered a high school football game for both the local newspaper and a radio station on a Halloween Friday night. He dressed as Aladdin, with the billowy pants, sleeveless shirt and pointy shoes – running up and down the stairs between the field and the press box.

The unfortunate thing? He was, by his account, the only person in the entire stadium dressed up for Halloween. So he was the target of smart-aleck high schoolers the whole night as he ran up and down the stairs in his costume. It makes me laugh to just think about it.

That's a funny story, but it also illustrates an issue for whether you should dress up Friday. You should wear a costume only if you're prepared for the worst-case scenario. Will it ruin your day if you're the only person dressed as Bruce Bochy or Wonder Woman in a workplace filled with people who are otherwise experiencing "casual Friday?" If not, go ahead.

Just be ready for eye rolling from those who ignore the holiday.

That's answer No. 1.

The other question has roiled society the past few years: When should kids stop trick-or-treating?

Is it when they reach a certain size or grade in school? When they get a driver's license? When they start voting? When they qualify for Social Security?

Many of us have answered the door, expecting to see a little bug or fairy costume, to be greeted by a horde of teenagers who look like they're heading to the club. The deep-voiced man-boys say "trick or treat" with an implied threat: We wouldn't like the "trick."

We have two choices: Pretend there's nothing wrong and give them candy or call them out for being too old. Most of us simply give in to the implied threat to avoid them coming back to vandalize our house and perhaps setting it afire in some horrible Halloween ritual.

So what's the answer?

You may not have a choice of who comes to your house, but here's some unsolicited advice for parents: When your kid leaves sixth grade, he or she should stop trick-or-treating. Let them dress up. Let them go to a party or help you hand out candy.

But no trick-or-treating. Your neighbors will thank you.

Although if your kids want to go to a high school game dressed as Aladdin, they may have a great story to tell co-workers in a few years.

Brad Stanhope is a former Daily Republic editor. Reach him at bradstanhope@hotmail.com.