Halloween: Trick-or-Treating, Costume Masks & Parties are a ‘No’

The CDC has just released guidelines about what Halloween should (or shouldn't) look like this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has suggested that during this pandemic, Halloween should look a lot different than it did in years past.

They don't want you and your kids going door-to-door to trick-or-treating. They are also saying that costume masks are strongly discouraged, as is gathering for parties.

All of this is considered to be high risk amid the raging Covid-19 virus that continues to spread almost 7 months after our world shut down under quarantine.

So just what is it that the CDC suggests would be safer as a way to celebrate Halloween?

Low-risk activities include staying home to carve pumpkins, and taking a walk through your neighborhood around Halloween-time with your kids to admire the decorated homes from a distance  without actually knocking on any doors and asking for/accepting candy. You can enhance the walk with a list of things that your kids can try to spot in a scavenger hunt to make this stroll through the neighborhood more fun.

Some people have already started thinking of creative ways to get candy to the neighborhood kids who stop by. One man has made a cardboard chute down his front step banister and plans to send  candy down the slide into a bucket at the bottom for kids to take without ever having to knock on his door. Another person has decided to hang candy from strings on a tree with low branches out front of their house so that the kids can go candy-picking without approaching their front door and having any direct contact.

The latest national survey shows that almost 50% of us have zero plans of opening our front doors to any trick-or-treaters this Halloween and only 24% say they will leave a bowl of candy on their front stoop.

So....what are your Halloween plans? May I suggest a virtual Zoom party with your kids and a few of their friends all dressed in costumes and eating some candy together that you have provided yourself?