Jokes for Treats: A St. Louis Tradition
“Jokes on
Halloween are a St. Louis tradition.”
#amyshereforthis
I love Halloween. I always have. As a kid, I can remember digging through the costume bin in my family’s attic, trying to decide who I’d be that year. Now as an adult, I love planning my kids’ costumes with them. Halloween in St. Louis is pretty magical. In many neighborhoods, streets are closed and all the neighbors come out with firepits and loads of candy for eager trick-or-treaters.
In the years before we had kids, my husband and I would always stock up on candy, ready for costumed children to show up at our door. The first year we were married it rained on Halloween and I was worried we wouldn’t have anyone to take the mounds of Kit-Kats and M&Ms we were prepared with. When the doorbell finally rang, we excitedly opened it to find the little kids that lived next door to us, decked out in costume. But before I could add a handful of treats to their plastic pumpkin buckets, the children inexplicably started telling me jokes. Unaccustomed to more than a customary “trick-or-treat,” I stared at the children until their mom explained that jokes on Halloween are a St. Louis tradition. Every trick-or-treater is supposed to have a joke prepared to tell the people at homes they’re visiting. Entertainment in exchange for sugar. I’m always on board with that.
I grew up just an hour west of the city and most “St. Louisy” things have migrated to mid-Missouri, but not jokes on Halloween. So where did this tradition begin? I did a little research to try to find the origins of trading a laugh for a treat.
“Jokes on Halloween is a fun tradition that adds to the special charm of our city.”
#amyshereforthis
There doesn’t seem to be a super clear origin to Halloween jokes, but most research led me to a couple ideas. The first is that the tradition originated in Des Moines, Iowa. The introduction of telling jokes in exchange for treats was a depression-era attempt to curb the vandalism created by adolescents on Halloween. The idea was that telling a joke would satisfy the desire to “trick” and they would be rewarded for it. A friend of mine lives in Des Moines and she confirmed that their city still shares in this unique Halloween tradition!
Another common idea for the origin of trick-or-treat jokes has roots in St. Louis Irish culture. Apparently in one old festival in Ireland, people would dress in costume and go door-to-door requesting an item to keep an evil spirit away. Before the resident would hand the item over, the person at the door had to recite a poem or joke, then receive a gift for their talents.
“Entertainment in exchange for sugar. I’m always on board with that.”
#amyshereforthis
Lastly, some people believe the tradition is rooted in blue-collar ideals, that you have to work for a treat and it can’t just be handed to you. My guess is that in our city, jokes on Halloween stem from a combination of these ideas and over time became its own unique St. Louis tradition. Jokes on Halloween are a fun tradition that adds to the special charm of our city.
A covid Halloween last year meant that most people handed out candy from a distance, placing it on tables at the bottom of their porches or creating candy chutes down porch rails to deposit treats right into buckets. Because of the distance and masking, telling jokes wasn’t as much of a focal point. I have a feeling this year will be similar, but I’m planning to prepare our kids with a couple of simple jokes to keep the tradition going.
What about you? Do you tell jokes on Halloween? Any good ones or other fun St. Louis traditions I might not have heard of?