How to Celebrate Halloween…in a Pandemic

If you have kids, you’re possibly still wondering how to make Halloween special for them this year. It’s completely understandable that you’d want to take them out trick or treating this year, however with the spread of coronavirus rearing its ugly head again, it’s a rather dangerous choice to send your kids out now. However, there are lots of different ways to celebrate Halloween, that don’t involve trick or treating.

Halloween Jack-o-Lantern

1. Do a candy hunt at your house. Everyone can dress up in their costumes, and similar to how you hide Easter eggs, you can hide candy around the inside and outside of the house. If you know a neighbor also quarantines and stays in, you can invite them to join, and have two houses and yards for the kids to search. If you’d rather keep it just your family, this is a great idea. Send them all around the yard searching for candy after it gets dark and have candy inside as well to extend the game. They’ll get a full bag of candy, and you get peace of mind that they’re safe and sound.
2. Have a big night of pumpkin carving and movies. With so many streaming opportunities, have your kids dress up to carve pumpkins as a family, and then stream some Halloween movies afterwards. You can create a fun candy charcuterie board for them to dig into, and it’s a great way to enjoy some family time all together. If you want to invite some friends over, put it outside and set up everyone to have their own section, 6–8 feet away from the others. This way, everyone can enjoy the movie, and candy, separately and safely.
3. Go to a drive through Halloween show or haunted house. With everyone adapting to how things are with this pandemic, there are lots of spooky driving trails or Halloween events that are happening with you staying in your car for safety. Load the kids, or adults, up and get your haunt on!
4. Look up haunted places/areas near you and do a driving ghost tour. If your kids are more into spooks than candy, do some research and put together a little ghost tour for your family. With everyone staying in the car, it’s a great way to spend some quality time, and you may even see a ghost or two.
5. Create a fun “party” for your kids. Set up games like pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, bob for apples, and have snacks and spooky music. Let your kids play for a few hours, and then end the night with some candy and maybe a scary story by the fire or by flashlight.

There’s no doubt, holidays aren’t going to be the same this year, but that doesn’t mean that you or your kids have to miss out on the fun of Halloween. Like most things this year, it’s just about finding a different way to have fun while being safe and socially distanced.