Safer, alternative, fun ways to celebrate Halloween during the Coronavirus Pandemic
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued its first guidance for Halloween on its website this week. Many traditional Halloween activities are considered to be high-risk for spreading viruses this year during the pandemic and have offered several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween this year.CDC Suggested Lower Risk Activities:
Carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them.- Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends.
- Decorating your house, apartment, or living space.
- Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance.
- Having a virtual Halloween costume contest.
- Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with.
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Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house.
20 Lower Risk Halloween Activities to do during the Pandemic
we found searching the internet:
- Go big on DIY decorations.
- Set up a Halloween candy graveyard.
- Create a Halloween candy chute.
- "Boo" a neighbor with an anonymous treat.
- Create a Halloween home movie or play.
- Learn a Halloween dance.
- Plan a scary movie night, or Halloween movie marathon.
- Decorate face masks.
- Set up a Trick-or-Treat Driveway Table.
- Set up a Halloween Piñata.
- Have a Halloween-themed reading hour.
- Make Halloween treats.
- Camp out under the blue moon.
- Host a virtual Halloween costume party.
- Join a virtual pumpkin-carving or painting contest.
- Create a scavenger hunt.
- Scary Halloween Egg Hunt. Decorate Easter eggs scary and stuff with glow sticks and Halloween candy and hide them inside and outside around the house.
- Host a neighborhood drive-by trick-or-treat or reverse trick-or-treat.
- Have a Window/Wreath/Porch Decorating Competition.
- Search for drive-through Halloween activities like drive-through haunted houses, drive-in movie theaters, haunted roads, or haunted neighborhoods lit up and decorated for Halloween.
IMPORTANT: If you think you might have COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone who does, don't attend in-person Halloween activities and do not hand out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters.
Also when planning to host a holiday celebration, you should assess current COVID-19 levels in your community to determine whether to postpone, cancel, or limit the number of attendees, and not to replace or superseded any local or state mandates.
Finally, the CDC maintains that it is vital that all Americans enjoy the holiday season responsibly.
Have fun trying out new traditions this year. Who knows, they might become new traditions that might come back next year!
