Should trick-or-treating be saved for the weekend?

Several towns in Quebec are choosing to move the date of Halloween this year by encouraging trick-or-treating on Friday or Saturday instead of on Thursday, Oct. 31.

Chibougamau Mayor Manon Cyr told CBC News the town about 700 kilometres north of Montreal asked residents when they wanted to mark Halloween, and most people said on a Friday.

So trick-or-treating will happen this year on Nov. 1.

"It's a big night for the kids, so the day after we don't have to manage the school and so on," Cyr said.

Several other towns, mostly in northern Quebec, are also choosing to postpone Halloween for a day.

Senneterre town council, in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, recently voted to hold Halloween on the closest Friday to Oct. 31 until at least 2027.

But in Rouyn-Noranda, city council opted to hold trick-or-treating last Saturday. 

"On Saturday, it gives you some leeway. There's less running around, there's less rush to get the children ready," Coun. Sylvie Turgeon told CBC News.

Turgeon said there are other advantages to Saturday trick-or-treating.

There's less traffic, so it's safer for children to be out on the street. And it's easier to organize parties, haunted houses or other events when people don't have to work.

She said police, firefighters and other emergency personnel volunteer their time to ensure safe trick-or-treating in Rouyn-Noranda, and it's easier for them to do that on a Saturday.

Montreal sticking with Oct. 31

Montreal had its own ill-fated experience with postponing Halloween in 2019.

Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast for Oct. 31 that year, so Mayor Valérie Plante asked people to postpone trick-or-treating until the following night when the weather was better.

There was some confusion and some complaints, with many going rogue and sticking with candy distribution and trick-or-treating on the 31st.  Others waited until the next day, and some simply celebrated both nights.

CBC News asked parents at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough what they thought about switching Halloween to weekends-only.

"It's just weird. Halloween has been on the 31st forever," teacher and parent Arianne Asly-Verdon said. "One year we did it on the first of November because it rained. And that's just, you know, silly," she said. 

"It has to be the 31st. It's just tradition. I don't know why we would change it," parent Audrey Plante said.

Most elementary schools in Montreal schedule a pedagogical day the day after Halloween.

Parent Clea Minaker said that's ideal.

"The kids can just wake up and open their bag of candy and enjoy a day off," Minaker said. "I think it should be Oct. 31 because it's the spookiest."

Parent Caixae Xu said she was open to a switch, but only if it's because of weather.

"If it's great weather and it's Halloween day that's awesome. If the weather is not good then we can change," Xu said.

A spokesperson for Plante told CBC News that Montreal has no plans to switch the date of Halloween.

In Chibougamau, Cyr said most people prefer the Friday trick-or-treating, but some grumbling is inevitable.

"For them it has to be Christmas on Dec. 25 and Halloween on Oct. 31," she said.