Tricks & treats to save Halloween
ALL’S NOT LOST AS CORONA KO’S GUISING
As police advise families to steer clear of traditional fright-night activities, here’s how to have safe and spooky fun without breaking any laws aws
IT’S not a trick and it probably won’t be a treat.
Halloween as we know it, with school discos, parties and kids grabbing handfuls of sweeties from big bowls, is not going to happen.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council has said that children should not be dressing up and visiting friends, family and neighbours. So, guising seems to be goosed this year.
Unless the advice from the Scottish Government changes, pubs will be able to have Halloween events – as long as everyone heads for home at 10pm.
This would be bad news in any year but it’s particularly unwelcome in 2020, when we need all the fun we can get. Looking forward to Halloween makes the shorter days and darkening evenings of autumn bearable.
So how can we hack Halloween and have safe spooky fun that doesn’t break any laws? Here are some ideas.
DECORATIONS
GO FOR it with tissue-paper bats and carved pumpkins. Making spiders’ webs and painting skeletons is the perfect activity for lockdown weekends. Pinterest has lots of ideas, from a minimal chain of dangly ghosts to a giant Tim Burton pumpkin-headed ghoul with branches for hands.
If there’s an artificial Christmas tree in the loft, why not repurpose it with orange spookiness?
Or use some of the glorious coloured leaves around this autumn to make a Halloween wreath for the front door or table centrepiece.
QUIZ NIGHT
REVIVE the Zoom quiz that was so popular at the start of lockdown and do a spooky one. There is lots of Halloween trivia on the internet.
A round on age-appropriate creepy films would be good. Fancy dress will give everyone a laugh.
And what about pumpkins carved into the faces of famous folk? Trumpkins are a whole category of their own but someone has put everyone from Johnny
Depp to Whoopi Goldberg on to a giant pumpkin.
SAFE OUTINGS
PUMPKIN patches have become popular, as farmers realise parents will pay to let their children climb on hay bales and drink hot chocolate. Some, such as Arnprior near Stirling, have turnips as well as the easier-to-carve pumpkin. Most operate a booking system. Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens being transformed with outdoor performances and lights, while there are spooky drive-in movies in Falkirk Stadium, Edinburgh Airport, Strathclyde Country Park, Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Prestwick Airport and Skyport in Linwood.