Halloween: How to celebrate the holiday safely
If you’re wondering if Halloween has to be canceled this year, “the answer is a resounding no,” said Aimee Ortiz in The New York Times. With Covid-19 still spreading, however, the holiday will look different throughout the country, and “you do have to take precautions.” The CDC recently issued guidelines for celebrating that aim to balance prudence and fun. Indoor activities such as parties and haunted house tours are discouraged, unsurprisingly, as are parades or festivals that would bring together large crowds from multiple communities. Traditional trick-or-treating is discouraged, too—at least trick-or-treating that involves children going door-to-door, crowding porches and stoops, and being handed candy from arm’s length. But, as the CDC acknowledges, there are ways to moderate the risks.
“Of course, people are already working on this problem,” said Jeanette Marantos in the Los Angeles Times. Many homeowners in the suburbs and smaller towns will be leaving individual bags of candy out so that kids can grab them without clustering, either because the treats are spaced out on a table or strung from a fence or tree. “You can wave from the porch, replenish between visits, and keep an eye on little ghouls who want to take more than their share.” Some creative adults are fashioning 6-foot candy chutes out of cardboard tubes or PVC pipe, or even experimenting with candy ziplines. If local conditions make trick-or-treating out of the question (consult Halloween2020.org for countyby-county infection rates), arrange alternative activities, such as a scavenger hunt with clues to solve, or a candy hunt in the dark using plastic Easter eggs, each packed with candy and a small glow stick. You could also turn pumpkin carving into a family contest this year and have neighbors vote on their favorite. Whatever else you dream up, “this may well be the year to pull out the stops decorating in and outside your home, just for the fun of it.”
Parents may have a harder time adjusting than kids do, said Emily Oster in The Washington Post. With Halloween rites, as with every other tradition affected by Covid, “there’s a danger of adults overstating the losses and projecting our own disappointments onto our kids.” So be open-minded. “Kids are adaptable, and changes are not always terrible.” Sure, Halloween 2020 won’t involve hayrides or bobbing for apples, but “that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.” This Oct. 31 falls on a Saturday, and there will be a full moon. No one needs to jam their hands into a bowl of candy to enjoy that. Adults have particular memories they want to re-create; “kids just want a Butterfinger.”