How To Celebrate Halloween Safely This Year
I get it. You don’t want to disappoint your children yet again. Halloween is coming up. Fun costumes, staying up late, parties with friends, and CANDY! What’s not to love? And when 2020 feels like an endless series of disappointments, it is tempting to try to avoid changing how we celebrate.
Don’t be fooled. COVID-19 remains a very serious and scary illness that is just waiting to trick you into complacency. So how can you preserve some of the fun and festivity of Halloween while staying safe?
Brief Summary
COVID-19 is still out there. Your choice of activity depends on several factors: your family’s risk, your community prevalence of COVID-19, and how adherent your children will be to the guidelines. This website is a fantastic resource to evaluate risk in your individual community.
Traditional trick-or-treating is a high risk activity: The CDC, many public health authorities, and infectious disease experts (and pediatricians!) all agree that trick/trunk-or-treat events, parties and other traditional Halloween activities are not worth it this year. Below is a list of 10 safer activities to consider for Halloween 2020. If you do decide to participate in a modified trick-or-treating event, I have listed some ways to make it as safe as possible.
Consider your plans for the rest of the holiday season: Participating in a higher-risk activity could limit your options when it comes to Thanksgiving and other holiday events or trips, especially if you are going to be around higher-risk family. An exposure or illness could force you to change your plans.
As always, perspective is everything. Yes, it is a bummer to miss out on some of the fun of Halloween this year. Yes, your children will be disappointed. But depending on how you approach the discussions with them, this may be an opportunity for creating new family traditions and memories, and a good reminder that fun can be had even when our plans are disrupted
Lets Talk About Risk, Baby
As I have mentioned here and here, the risk of catching COVID-19 depends in part on the prevalence within your community. In an area with higher infection numbers, minimizing exposure to other people is important. If the transmission is very high, you should avoid even low-risk activities. Decisions—school, travel, and activities—need to be made in the context of your own family and individual risk as well.
A great resource to keep up-to-date on the risk level in your county is available here (along with additional ideas for how to celebrate): https://www.halloween2020.org.
Trick Or Treating?
The CDC classes trick-or-treating as moderate to high risk activity depending on how it is done. As we learn more about COVID-19, it is clear that children are not only capable of catching the disease and getting sick, but also of spreading it to other, more vulnerable family members.
Keep in mind that Halloween comes only a few weeks before another big family-centric holiday: Thanksgiving. Because COVID-19 can have an incubation period of up to 2 weeks, you need to be very thoughtful about your Halloween celebrations.
A fantastic graphic from Dr Kristen Stuppy reviews risk-levels for different Halloween activities (adapted from CDC guidelines). Check out her article for more ideas!
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If you do not feel safe having trick-or-treaters this year, here is a poster you can hang on your door!
10 Ways To Enjoy Halloween Safely
Halloween 2020 is particularly special: it is a Saturday, there is an extra hour (daylight savings!) and it is also a “blue moon” (this means a second full moon within a calendar month, which happens on Halloween only once every 19 years, hence “once in a blue moon”!). While you may not be celebrating as normal, here are some alternative ideas.
1. A candy hunt (or a scavenger hunt with clues for the older kids)
Plan a hunt with people in your “bubble” (could be family members, or a few select families). You could even consider a night-time hunt outside with flashlights!
2. A socially distanced parade
A socially distanced costume parade allows your kids to dress up and show off their costumes. Add some reverse trick-or-treating and let your neighbors toss candy to the kids! There have been several inventive ideas for distributing candy at a distance, including chutes, candy cannons and robots. For those who prefer a simpler solution, setting up candy tables or using long tongs.
3. Spooky movie night
Enjoy a special Halloween movie night. Here are a few movie suggestions that are Halloween themed but not too scary. Depending on your space, you could even set up a projector outdoors.
4. S’mores and ghost stories
Read Halloween books or make up your own scary stories. Even more fun if you can camp out (even in your yard) and add a campfire. Book ideas for the younger crowd can be found here.
5. Go crazy with those Halloween decorations this year
Get those kids in on brainstorming to come up with unique yard decorations and have a neighborhood decorating contest. This is a great opportunity for a family walk, and easy to make socially distanced if the decorations are up for several days.
6. Pumpkin Carving competition
Compete with your friends via Zoom! Or display your creations on the porch and let the neighbors decide.
7. Scaaaary new recipes
A Halloween-themed breakfast? Perhaps an entire meal while in costume? Or something you’ve never tried before (my daughter would certainly find that scary). There are countless websites with recipe ideas!
8. Halloween crafts and cards
Chances are the grandparents and other extended family have not been able to spend as much time with your children as they would have liked this year. Put together a care package of treats, homemade crafts, photos and cards to help them feel included.
9. Virtual fun
Try a virtual (or socially distanced) Halloween costume contest, a crafting party or even just a hangout. Netflix viewing parties, game nights, and virtual haunted house tours or escape rooms may be more fun for tweens and teens. For more grown-up fun, this may be right up your alley.
10. A family Halloween photo shoot
Again, go all out with the decorations and props and let your children direct the photoshoot. Choose one or more themes, buy (or make) props, and include the pets!
We plan on going trick-or-treating anyway. How can we do it as safely as possible?
Also: Don’t forget regular Trick-or-Treating rules.
A responsible adult should go with younger children (especially if <12 years old). Pre-plan a route and remind children not to enter anyone else’s house or car. Stay in familiar areas. Wear bright and reflective costumes. Avoid walking in the streets. Cross only on well-lit cross-walks. Carry glow sticks or flashlights.
Final Thoughts
Halloween this year will certainly be different.
As in all things, our children learn from us. They learn resilience, how to deal with disappointments, and how to make the best of new situations. They also learn how to be unselfish, and that our actions can impact our communities. Understanding that you sometimes have to think about the safety of those around you when you make decisions creates good citizens, and hopefully a better world.
Use the limitations imposed by COVID-19 as an opportunity and a challenge to create fun, new, memorable traditions!