Source: Lauren Sieben | Realtor.com
In a year full of canceled vacations, socially distant celebrations, and postponed events, we’re all desperate to hold on to any festivity and sense of normalcy we can get our hands on—including Halloween.
The tradition of going door to door for candy or inching your way through a haunted house is a sketchy proposition in a pandemic world. But if the idea of sacrificing Halloween altogether this year is just too spooky to endure, we talked with health experts about ways you can celebrate while keeping a safe distance from others and minimizing the risk of COVID-19 transmission. We’re here to save Halloween, folks!
Reimagine Halloween festivities for the social distancing era:
It’s hard to imagine hordes of kids walking door to door and asking for candy these days.
But just because you can’t do Halloween the same way this year doesn’t mean you have to forgo your favorite activities. Take haunted houses, for example: An indoor haunted house would be a real nightmare during a pandemic. But with a little creativity, you can still enjoy the experience.
“I’ve heard of groups putting together drive-through haunted house experiences, which seems like a fun but safe way to get into the Halloween spirit,” says Dr.Jean Moorjani, a pediatrician at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.
And let’s face it: Halloween wouldn’t be the same without candy. But trick-or-treating is tough to pull off without making contact with the neighbors. One solution? Give your Halloween candy the Easter egg treatment.
“You may choose to skip trick-or-treating completely and do a scavenger hunt with your children to find Halloween-themed items as they walk through the neighborhood looking at the decorations from a distance,” says Dr. Kavita Shanker-Patel, a family medicine physician at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. “A socially distanced Halloween costume parade is also another fun way to help kids enjoy the holiday.”
Get creative about doling out candy
Trick-or-treating inherently comes with some risk of spreading the virus; any activity where social distancing is hard to maintain presents a moderate risk, Shanker-Patel says.
If your neighborhood is intent on keeping the trick-or-treat spirit alive this year, you’ll need to rethink the traditional method of handing out candy from your doorstep.
You might be tempted to leave a bowl of candy in front of the house so kids can help themselves, but this isn’t a good idea either—it just creates a free-for-all for germs to spread.
“I don’t recommend leaving candy in a bowl where many hands will come into contact with it,” Moorjani says. “I’ve heard of people creating ‘candy chutes’ where they slide treats to trick-or-treaters in a contactless, but fun way.”
Another candy bowl alternative is to spread out pieces of candy on a table (or in individually wrapped goodie bags), Shanker-Patel says. “As the children walk by, they can pick them up on their own.”
No matter how you dole out the sweet stuff, it’s important for all treats to be individually wrapped or sealed. Don’t forget to thoroughly wash or sanitize your hands before handling treats.
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