Safe and Fun Ways To Celebrate Halloween From Home in 2020

COVID 19 has changed life in every way imaginable, including how we celebrate holidays. While all holidays have a social element, Halloween will likely prove to be particularly challenging due to the treat-giving component. In other words, the number of trick-or-treaters that will come to your door increases the likelihood that you, your family, and the trick-or-treaters will be exposed to the Coronavirus.

As such, it’s important to plan 2020’s Halloween a bit differently. If you’re trying to come up with ideas for this year’s Halloween celebration, here are a few tips to help keep you and yours celebrate this holiday safely this year.

Alternative Celebrations

Halloween during a pandemic doesn’t have to be devoid of celebration. If anything, it may just be the excuse you need to celebrate differently.

For example, you may not feel comfortable sending your kids out to trick-or-treat. If that’s the case, why not explore setting up a night of movies on the lawn?

To make this work, secure a projector that allows you to play your favorite Halloween-related DVDs. Pop the popcorn. Gather up the blankets so that you and your family can sit outside as the evening starts to cool down.

If you have a large outdoor wall, you can project the movies onto that. Otherwise, think about purchasing a blow-up screen for your movie night. Finally, decorate your yard with Halloween decor and start the party.

Candy Delivery

Hands carry germs. Unfortunately, we need our hands to pass out Halloween candy, at least if we’re doing Halloween the traditional way. Halloween during a pandemic forces people to get creative with their candy-giving activities.

A couple of options are available to you. First, you can mask up and hand out Halloween candy at the door; just make sure you have plenty of hand sanitizer. You can keep your distance by attaching the candy bowl to a fake arm – think skeleton arm and hand – and extending the arm out to allow the trick-or-treaters to fetch their candy.

If that isn’t your cup of tea this year, then try this second option: Leave packaged candy on your front porch and allow people to help themselves to candy. Just be sure to keep the candy bowls a good distance apart and be on hand to encourage social distancing.

Another option that some neighborhoods are doing is reverse trick-or-treating. Instead of sending kids to the door, families are bundling themselves and their kids up and throwing candy into the lawns of their neighbors.

You can personalize this your trick-or-treating goodies by putting the candy in little paper bags with small notes on them if you decide to do it. That way, your neighbors know who tossed the yummy treats their way.

Finally, you can take a cue from another kid-friendly holiday: Easter. Buy a bunch of plastic eggs and fill them with bite-sized candy and glow sticks. Instead of passing out candy, have the kids in your neighborhood hunt for the candy-filled eggs in your yard.

Have a Bike Parade

Kids love to dress up for Halloween. Many spend weeks thinking about and planning their costumes. That’s why Halloween during a pandemic can be so disappointing for kids. No one will see their costumes.

A neighborhood bike parade changes all of that. If there are a number of kids in your neighborhood who have bikes, why not invite them to take part in a costumed bike parade? Just make sure that it’s early enough in the evening that they’re not riding their bikes in the dark.

Zoom a Costume

Who says that 2020’s Halloween celebration can’t include a costume party? It can with the help of Zoom.

To get this party going, invite all your closest friends to the party. Encourage them to dress up and to decorate the room where they do their Zoom calls. Include spooky music, share Halloween recipes and get a dance party going.

Once the party’s coming to a close, choose the winner of your costume party. Send the winner either a digital gift certificate or a prize via snail mail.

Decorate the House

Decorating is one of the main reasons why holidays are so much fun, particularly if you have kids. While the Coronavirus may have put a damper on many things this year, decorating doesn’t have to be one of them.

That being the case, break out your stash of Halloween decorations. Hang ghost lanterns from the tree branches. Erect tombstones on the lawn. Use construction paper to make black cats and paper jack-o-lanterns for the windows.

By nature, Halloween is a creative holiday. This means that celebrating Halloween in 2020 is all about being creative. COVID 19 doesn’t have to stop the celebration. Rather, it encourages us to put on our thinking caps and come up with memorable ways to celebrate this kid-friendly holiday. From bike parades to movie nights on the lawn, there is bound to be a way to celebrate 2020’s Halloween in grand style.