For the first time since 1938, children in Des Moines can trick-or-treat on Halloween

The Iowa state capital abolished trick-or-treating on October 31 about 86 years ago to curb vandalism. Instead, the city came up with Beggar's Night, which takes place on October 30th and is essentially the same as Halloween, except that children traditionally have to tell jokes before receiving their candy.

This year, however, meteorologists are predicting storms and possibly tornadoes – which isn't exactly ideal weather to send the kids to. For this reason, Beggar's Night was postponed to October 31st.

While it may sound strange to some, Beggar's Night came about after Des Moines police responded to 550 reports of vandalism involving preteens and teenagers on Halloween in 1938. These ranged from soap bubbles to fires and destruction of property, according to the State Historical Society of Iowa.

By the mid-1940s, the number of reports of Halloween incidents was halved.

Children who go out for begging night must be accompanied by an adult and have a limited amount of time to consume sugar. Trick-or-treating is typically only allowed from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Iowa isn't alone in restricting trick-or-treating: Some states have age limits on who can go out.)

It's been a tradition for so long that many residents didn't even know it wasn't a national event.

“I didn't realize we were such an anomaly because for us it's normal,” said Debbie Westphal Swander, a costume shop owner in West Des Moines Chicago Tribune.