“Boo!” said a ghost from 6 feet away…

Who doesn’t love trick-or-treating? I have fond memories of Halloween: costumes, face paint, going door-to-door around the neighborhood, and candy—so much candy!

Image: Sam, Pia

This year will be different. Some of you won’t feel comfortable with your kids gathering together to trick-or treat. Costume parties will be postponed until next year. Maybe you won’t even be opening doors to hand out candy. But that doesn’t mean all the fun has to be canceled.

Image: Rob

Image: Jenny, Erin, Kelly, Me, Gill

It’s important to find ways to celebrate holidays and milestones while still acknowledging our current reality. Not only will you model resilience and adaptability for your kids, you might even discover a new family tradition!

Here are some ideas on how to have a fun-while-socially-distant Halloween celebration:

• Trunk or Treating. Instead of handing out candy in-person, decorate the back of your car’s trunk with Halloween streamers and baskets of candy. Your neighbors can walk past your house, help themselves to the baskets, and give you a wave to say thank!
• Check out your local community events. Maybe your neighborhood is hosting a drive-by parade. I’ve seen neighborhoods that are putting up creepy decorations on trees and lamp posts and dubbing them “haunted roads.” To keep it simple, tour your neighborhood to look at house decorations or catch a Halloween flick at a drive-in movie theater.
• Host a Zoom costume party. Who says Zoom has to be all about work? Invite friends and family members to a virtual costume party. This way, you still get to appreciate each other’s costumes.
• Carve (or color) pumpkins. Pumpkin decorating is a great crafting activity for kids of all ages. If your kids are too young for carving, set them loose with some magic markers or glitter pens instead!
• Bake some spooky treats. Bake and send Halloween-themed cookies to your friends and family. It’s a good way of letting them know you’re thinking of them, even if you can’t celebrate together.
• Hold a spooky house competition. Create a spooky house competition with your neighbors! Have those who want to join decorate their homes, and then do an online vote on Halloween night. A good example of doing something fun together, apart.

Image: Sam, family friend.

Halloween this year doesn’t have to be a drag. So go forth, have some socially-distant fun, and share a picture of your celebrations inside our Facebook group. I’m excited to see what your family is getting up to!