Too old for the witch costume, not ready to give up Halloween

My son's eight, and this is the year the costumes changed. It's no longer “dress up as anything spooky”, it's a very specific character from a very specific film, planned for weeks beforehand. But the costume's really just the part you notice first. If your child's getting older, the whole night tends to be changing underneath it too — here's what that's actually looked like for us.

From costume to character

When they're small, Halloween is simple: a costume, a bag, a few streets of knocking on doors. That stays plenty for years, then somewhere around eight or nine it isn't quite enough on its own. The shift I've noticed happens in upper primary, around 8 to 11: a costume stops being a costume and starts being an identity for the night. It has to be a real character, from a real film or book, chosen with actual thought rather than pulled off a shelf. It matters to them, and it's worth taking seriously rather than reaching for whatever's easiest.

Some kids skip the costume altogether

For some children the costume drops away completely before the interest in Halloween does. They're not fussed about dressing up, but they still want the treats and the fun of the night just as much. Less dressing-up doesn't mean less Halloween — it just means the magic needs to come from somewhere else.

Doing it with the pack

The other big change is who it's for. When they are little, Halloween is mostly with parents and siblings. By eight or nine, it's for the friend group. Costumes get compared, plans get made as a pack, and the night matters more because everyone else is there for it too.

The knocking-on-doors problem

Something else I've noticed: not every child this age wants to knock on a stranger's door and say the line anymore. Plenty still do, happily. But for some it starts to feel a bit babyish, or just a bit exposing, performing on a doorstep for an adult they don't know. If that's your child, doing the trick-or-treat bit at home instead — with friends over, gamified a little — solves that without losing any of the fun.

Where the challenge comes in

Character costumes and a friend group cover the “who” and the “what”, but there's still a gap: kids this age want the night to feel like more than a bag of sweets. That's exactly the gap our latest Halloween hunt is built for. There's a mix of codes, ciphers and hidden messages, each one a small win before you even get to the next location, and a story running through it: a reason the treats have gone missing, some stakes beyond “find the sweets”.

I'll be straight with you: it's built with 7–10 in mind, not older. But for a group of eight and nine-year-olds who want Halloween to feel like an event rather than a costume parade, it's a proper step up from basic trick-or-treating. If you're after something built specifically for teens, that's in the works for next year.

Explore the Halloween hunt for ages 7–10

So tell me: has your child's Halloween already gone from costume to character, or are you not there yet?

Written by Estelle, who's been writing hunts for her own kids for years — including one who's currently deep into character-costume territory himself.

Related reading: Try these alternatives to trick-or-treating at home or learn how to trick-or-treat at home.

FAQs

What can older kids do for Halloween instead of trick-or-treating?

Bring the trick-or-treat bit home. Have friends over and turn it into a game or a hunt, so they still get the treats without knocking on strangers' doors.

What age is the Halloween hunt for?

I wrote it for 7 to 10 year olds. For a group of eight and nine-year-olds it's a proper step up from basic trick-or-treating or younger children could do it with some help, but it isn't built for teens.

Can friends do the Halloween hunt together?

Yes. My birthday hunts are made for one child, but the Halloween hunt is designed for a group.

Do they still get treats?

Always. There's a treat at the end, they just have to crack a few codes to get there.