Don’t you love when your favorite holidays of the year come around again, and you are excited to start preparing and make it even better than last year? Not every holiday triggers the same emotions for everyone, but when your favorite time of year is around the corner, nothing is stopping you from having the time of your life. At least that is what we think, and staying positive is a good thing. However, when the unexpected strikes, some of our plans might be turned upside down.
We all know that the unexpected of the year 2020 was the global pandemic, which took us by surprise. Some assumed it’s going to be over by the time our favorite holiday of the year comes around, but things didn’t go as we imagined it would, so here we are! Halloween season is knocking on our door, and so is the coronavirus. Since there is no way around it, this Halloween season, we plan to let the holiday’s in and keep the Covid-19 out of our homes.
You can still have a memorable Halloween this year if you follow some of these guidelines that will ensure you and your family’s safety and guarantee that you will have a blast this holiday. Without further ado, here is what you can do to carve your way around Covid-19 this Halloween season.
A different kind of “trick-or-treat”?
Halloween is such a fantastic holiday because every member of the family can have a great time during this season. But, do you know who are the happiest family members this time of year? The children. The end of October brings about another day that children absolutely love because they get to indulge in their favorite candy.
The traditional Halloween custom of Trick-or-treating has been such a great moment for the youth. They get to dress in their favorite cartoon or movie characters, and they go from house to house only to fill their bags with candy and chocolate of all kinds.
Some parents are happy to see their children being spoiled with so much candy, but there is a certain amount of worry for the kids knowing that they will have to knock on a stranger’s door in order to get it. That worry is even greater nowadays because of the virus.
Here are some ways you can have your children enjoy the custom while staying safe at the same time.
1. Have them trick-or-treat their household
Not traditional but definitely safer is to have the young family member trick-or-treat their parents, siblings, or anyone who is living with them. You can instill the same satisfaction in a child’s eyes even if he doesn’t roam around the neighborhood to random homes and potentially expose them to an unsafe environment.
As you already know, meetings, celebrations, and other events are better to be held in the family during the pandemic. It is safer that way, and why not do the same when it comes to Halloween customs? Have your kids dressed up in their favorite costumes with an empty bag ready to be treated by their family members.
To make things more interesting, you can start acting a bit and refuse to treat them to encourage an innocent trick and see what prank their creative mind can come up with. Do a scavenger hunt in the household. Hide some candy around the house and have the kids find it. Make it fun for them and yourself while staying safe.
2. Go Trick-or-treat with family members
Socializing is also an excellent opportunity for the young ones to spend some quality time with their best friends and sharing the exciting experience of trick-or-treating. It is always fun to share good moments with someone you care about, but this year things are a bit different. For the safety of all parties involved, it is better to stick with the principle illustrated above and keep it between the family.
Trick-or-treat with the people from the same household and have any siblings join in for this year’s Halloween fun. Do it for the safety of your own family and the protection of your kid’s best friend and their family. Even if there are no other siblings with whom your child can join for this Halloween custom, there is nothing wrong with putting on a costume yourself and trick-or-treat with them. As always, make sure you keep your interactions with others brief, wear a mask and take all safety precautions.
3. Friendly advice for trick-or-treat hosts
Depending on how bad the situation of the coronavirus is in your community, you might be hesitant to receive any kids knocking on your door for candy this year. However, you can still make them happy and keep everyone safe this Halloween season by preparing correctly. You can decorate your home for the season, indicating that you are ready to have kids at your door trick-or-treating, but you can make it safer by not interacting with them directly.
It is common for some hosts to leave the candy on the porch for the children to take freely. However, having multiple children grabbing in a bowl to get candy might not be the safest way to go about. Instead you should have pre wrapped candy that the host can give or “toss” in the child’s candy bag.
If you still want to hand them yourself, don’t forget about the safety measures, such as wearing a mask, gloves and even have a hand sanitizer close by. Make sure your interaction is very brief, and that way, you can feel safe and happy that you made a child smile this Halloween season yet again.
4. Wear a cool and safe costume for trick-or-treating
Costumes nowadays can be so creative and fun. How hard would it be to integrate some of the safety measures for Covid-19 into our children’s costumes? Face masks nowadays come in all shapes and sizes with patterns and colors that would match any one of your child’s favorite character costumes. Some of their cartoon superheroes wear a mask anyway, so it wouldn’t be too hard to convince them to wear one since Spiderman, Batman, Catwoman, and many other superheroes wear one as well.
Gloves can be another simple addition to their costume piece, and all this will help them be safe and look cool at the same time.
What about the Halloween parties?
Not only kids have fun during the Halloween season. Parents, older siblings, and couples love to throw a great holiday party every now and then. Either you are invited to a party or decide to throw a party back at your home; it is always great to have people around with whom to hang out, especially for the Halloween season. You get to dress up in creative costumes, decorate the home for the season, load up your table with all sorts of finger foods and beverages, and have a great time.
However, with the pandemic situation, it is recommended that you stay away from any sort of events and meetings that involve close interaction with other people in closed spaces. Still, you can have a great Halloween party this year if you take into consideration some of the aspects that will not only keep everyone safe but also help you get the most out of this year’s holiday season.
1.Throw a party with people from your household
As obvious as it may seem, holding a party only with people from your household is as simple as it gets. No neighbors, friends, colleagues, or people from other homes, just you, your family, and people you live with. It might not be the party you were expecting, but you can still have a great time and keep it safe for everyone. Not to mention the fact that there are so many fun party game ideas that would allow everyone to get involved, and keep you entertained for hours.
This might be an excellent time to connect with some of the people that are closest to you. Sometimes our schedule through the year is so busy that we don’t ever take the time to hang out with people from our own home. This is a unique opportunity, and you still want to spend it with someone else rather than the closest people to you? Consider that when you plan your holiday party this year.
2. Go outdoor rather than indoors
As you may know, closed spaces are more favorable for the spreading of the virus rather than open spaces, the outdoors, or well-ventilated areas. It might not be the most auspicious time of year to hold an outdoor party since many places already face pretty low temperatures. Still, it might be a necessary sacrifice if you value safety above comfort. You can make the most out of it if you gather around a campfire and bring some blankets, creating the perfect setting for scary storytelling.
If you choose to hold a party indoors, select wide and well-ventilated spaces and don’t forget about safety measures such as masks and sanitizers. This way, you will have a blast this Halloween season while you remain safe and sound.
3. How about a virtual party?
If big industries such as real estate managed to close real estate deals from a distance with virtual tech, couldn’t we throw a fantastic virtual party this holiday season using the same method? Go on a Zoom call with all the people you would want to meet in person and start being creative. Why not play a scary video game together like Phasmophobia, or even watch a scary Halloween movie together since Netflix made it possible through Netflix Party.
Be creative with your virtual party and come up with ideas to simulate a real-time party. In my experience, people can have quite a lot of fun online while ensuring that everyone stays safe. You can always just take advantage of this opportunity to find out that everyone is well and look forward to future in-person meetings when the pandemic is over.
Halloween customs that you can practice even during the pandemic
If you can find a couple of things to do on the weekend at home in order to pass time and avoid getting involved in any major event this Halloween season that could be the best way to go about. But not everyone wants to have their favorite holidays ruined because of the virus.
Some of the usual Halloween traditions might require you to take a different approach this year, others are perfectly safe to practice and do not imply any significant exposure to the coronavirus. Here are some of the safest Halloween activities that you can safely practice.
- Carving pumpkins has always been one of the leading Halloween traditions. We might be used to having friends around for the event, but this year it is better to be kept between the members of our household. You can always go on a video call and share your pumpkin carving skills with your friends, send pictures or video footage of your art.
- You might not want to hand a knife to your kids in order to have them carve a pumpkin, but you can certainly involve them too. Have them decorate the pumpkin or paint it. Let their creativity dictate how the pumpkin should be carved and what other nice additions they can add to make it even better looking.
- Baking is a major part of any holiday season, and for the scary season, you can really come up with some interesting Halloween themed recipes. Baking is a really fun activity for the whole family, since everyone can get involved. When baking you have the freedom to shape, cut or decorate your baked goods however you like.
- Decorating your home for the season is a safe and fun way to keep you entertained this Halloween. If you’ve never done it before, now is your chance to showcase your decorating skills, and if you have done it before, it is time to step up your game this year and be more creative with your decorations.
- Decorating is a fun activity that keeps you safe, but you know what else keeps you safe this Halloween season? Walking from house to house and admiring other homes decorated for the season from a distance. Who knows? Maybe you can steal some ideas, take some pictures and implement them in your own home.
- Visiting is a safe thing to do on your own or with other household members. Therefore, this Halloween season, visit a pumpkin patch or orchard. Go for an outdoor Halloween-themed scavenger hunt, or take a walk through a haunted forest or corn maze. This will surely keep you entertained, and make sure you use hand sanitizer after touching various objects.
- Lastly, you can always be creative and come up with new ideas for this Halloween season. It doesn’t always have to be traditional or a common custom for Halloween. It’s 2020, think outside of the box and create your perfect holiday. Create a Halloween treat to hunt with household members, start scattering treats around the house, and have them look for the goodies. Hold an outdoor costume parade or contest. Host an outdoor or an indoor movie night with household members. Be creating, and you will have a blast this Halloween season while staying safe during the spookiest time of the year.
Conclusion
No one could’ve anticipated what this year would bring, and who would’ve thought it would affect our way of life the way it did. Holiday’s are no longer the same, but for many reasons, they are better because a crisis brings people together and consolidates the relationships that matter to us. With a little bit of creativity and awareness, the Halloween season can be even better than it was last year. With some of the suggestions from this article, you can create what might be the most unconventional and yet one of the most memorable Halloween’s you ever had.
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below and let us know how your Halloween season went this year? Be sure to visit The OFFICIAL Real Estate Agent Directory® if you want to find a real estate agent near you, and don’t hesitate to share this article on your social media accounts.
