Is Halloween Cancelled?

This has been the talk of the neighborhood for the last few weeks. Everyone is wondering if others are comfortable with the traditional Halloween or if something else being organized, and, of course, the answer is not so clear cut. There’s no Halloween host in charge of making the decision for everyone, and everyone’s risk tolerance is different.

My vote is that we have as traditional a Halloween as possible. In our area, there are so many neighbors out trick or treating with their kids that leave a bowl of candy on the front porch anyway, so there’s not a ton of door ringing as it is. If someone doesn’t want to answer the door and be close to others, they can choose not to participate or they can leave candy outside. Online I’ve seen some people crafting PVC piping that they can deposit candy in to have it slide down to children on their stoop so they can maintain social distancing.

If parents are concerned that kids are in contact with candy others have touched, have the kids carry tongs to pick the candy out of the bowl. I’ve heard some people are creating individual baggies of treats or are planning to leave candy on a blanket in the driveway so they can spread it out.

If Halloween is not your jam this year, there are alternatives to consider and enjoy with family and friends. Here are a few ideas.

• Reverse Trick-or-Treating – Instead of having costumed creatures traveling door to door, have the parents drive around the neighborhood tossing candy to the dressed up children standing in their front yards. I kind of like the idea of throwing candy at kids….. This would require coordination and buy in throughout the neighborhood though.
• Candy hunt – Hide candy in your yard for the kids to find one evening, kind of like an Easter egg hunt. I’ve heard variations of this where you put glow-in-the-dark stickers on the candy wrappers to make them easier to find or arm the munchkins with flashlights on the hunt.
• Decorate a haunted house – Costco is offering chocolate houses to decorate like Christmas gingerbread houses. They even have Halloween cookies you can decorate with water and food coloring. (We tried those. It was a fun activity, but the cookies were subpar.)
• Scary movie night – Even if you don’t want to jump to super scary movies, Netflix (and I’m sure others) offer spooky tales that can be age appropriate for even the littlest of kiddos. Mine like the Dreamwork’s Spooky Stories with Shrek. Once mine are a little older, we’ll move to Casper and Hocus Pocus, some of my favorites from when I was little.
• “Boo” your neighbors – This has been an annual tradition in our neighborhood for years anyway, and it’s fun. You put together a small gift bag of candy, crafts, or other treats and secretly deliver them to a neighbor. The bag also includes directions on how to carry the tradition forward and boo another neighbor. You leave the gift bag on the doorstep, ring the bell, and run away. Our boys LOVE booing friends every year.

I hope you are able to find a way to celebrate Halloween that works for you and your family. This 2020 year is all about being resilient, which has often required us to be creative and modify traditions. As much as we adults can sometimes be disappointed by these changes, I bet the kids remember this year as special for the very reason that it is different.