Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, “Never take candy from strangers.” And then they dressed me up and said, “Go beg for it.” I didn’t know what to do! I’d knock on people’s doors and go, “Trick or treat.” “No thank you.”

This line is associated with Rita Rudner’s stand-up comedy about childhood logic and social rules. In the routine, she contrasts the standard parental warning—“never take candy from strangers”—with the way Halloween temporarily reverses that rule by encouraging children to approach unknown neighbors for treats. The joke is delivered in Rudner’s persona of bemused, literal-minded innocence, presenting Halloween as a moment when adults create mixed messages for kids. It circulated widely in comedy quote collections and on posters/cards, often attributed to Rudner’s stage material rather than a single, easily citable publication.

Rudner’s joke hinges on a child’s literal-minded attempt to reconcile two contradictory social rules: the everyday warning not to accept gifts from strangers and the Halloween custom of soliciting candy door-to-door. By framing trick-or-treating as “begging,” she punctures the holiday’s wholesome veneer and highlights how rituals can normalize behavior that would otherwise be discouraged. The punchline—responding “No thank you” to “Trick or treat”—extends the child’s confusion into a comically polite refusal, revealing how etiquette and safety advice can collide. The humor ultimately comes from exposing the arbitrary, context-dependent nature of social norms.