Tips for Halloween Trick or Treating in the Era of Social Distancing

October 6, 2020

If you’re like me, you are probably LOVING the cooler weather and excited about Halloween being on a Saturday and during a rare Blue Moon! The stars have aligned for a fantastic evening of tricks or treats…but one major thing…COVID. EEK! Silver lining: COVID has forced us to be innovative and creative in trying to live our lives as normally as possible while still being safe. Halloween trick or treating is doable as long as some simple safety protocols can be followed, such as:

Wear masks this Halloween

All kids and adults should wear a cloth mask. It is Halloween after all and there are many spooky cloth masks available online and in many stores! However, a Halloween costume mask should not take the place of your usual COVID mask.

Keep 6 feet between families

Communicate with your neighborhood about maintaining distance and even use sidewalk chalk around your home to mark out 6 feet.

One-way traffic

Communicate with your neighborhood about maintaining a one-way flow on streets to prevent bumping into other ghouls and goblins.

Place candy at the end of your driveway or yard

This will help keep kids from clustering by a narrow doorway.

Place in individual packages

Place candy so that families can grab and go without touching all the candy in the cauldron; use individual wrapping such as inexpensive paper cups or plastic baggies, or just spread the candy out on a table so it is easy to pick just one or two pieces.

Be creative!

Place candy on wooden craft sticks in a graveyard in your yard, or in Halloween-themed, glow-in-the-dark Easter Eggs throughout your yard. Errr Halloween Eggs?

I follow Oriental Trading and Party City on Facebook and they post TONS of easy ideas (as well as ads of course) for making Halloween safe(r) and still festive!

https://www.facebook.com/orientaltrading

https://www.facebook.com/PartyCity

I am also an event planner and would love to answer any questions or give ideas about Halloween: email me: [email protected] or message me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventsbyerinroundrock

As always, check the candy

Discard anything that is not individually wrapped or that seems homemade, or that looks suspicious. Even wait a day or two to eat it to allow any possible COVID germs to die.

The CDC + Halloween

According to the CDC, these are moderate-risk activities. As always, do what is best for your family, and be respectful of others’ wishes. If your community can work together, these reasonable, simple changes can offer the fun at a lower risk than traditional trick or treating. For more information from the CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html#halloween