Question: What do you think about Halloween festivities this year, particularly trick or treating?
Answer: I love Halloween and I think as long as we implement a few additional safety measures, there are elements of it that we can keep doing, including trick or treating. First, let’s remember the current dos and don’ts of the strange times we’re living in (Table 1). Based on the “DO NOT” list, we should NOT be: hosting Halloween parties, visiting “haunted houses,” taking “haunted hay rides” or the like, bobbing for apples, joining parades…. But, based on the “DO” list, we can indeed keep trick-or-treating as long as we follow the “DOs”. What this might look like in practice is:
- Small, family-based trick-or-treater groups (e.g. siblings or parent + child(ren); no friend groups or extended family groups)
- Masks on everyone (and if your costume has a mask, add an appropriate facemask too)
- No jump scares that cause people to scream
- Ideally, no knocking on doors. Candy givers can instead sit on their porch or keep their doors open to greet trick-or-treaters from a distance.
- Ideally, candy should not be passed out, but should instead be located where the children can directly pick up each piece. Lots of examples on the internet abound, like hanging candy from trees or using a candy shoot. We’ll likely just line candy up on the path to our front door and ask kids to take a couple. I suppose we could also throw candy to kids, like we throw mardi gras beads. Be creative!
- Bring hand sanitizer to use as needed.
Table 1. Dos and Don’ts
