Halloween 2020

Halloween cannot be the same this year.

I love Halloween for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is a highly social holiday... the only holiday that actually encourages trust and direct interaction with your neighbors and community. But this year, due to Covid-19, that's just not a good idea.

Trick or Treating -- children milling about the streets, not socially distancing, and getting candy from strangers -- is more or less just as bad an idea as having the children go back to in-class learning at school before Covid-19 is somehow containable... it cannot happen.

Halloween cannot be the same this year. Therefore, I would like to suggest a number of alternative ideas; all allow for fun around dressing up and getting special treats. And, luckily, Halloween is on a Saturday this year, so the whole day can be spent doing interesting things.

Before door-to-door trick or treating became a thing in the US -- around 1915, actually -- most Halloween celebrations were simply parties, and usually with a relatively small number of guests. So have a stay at home Halloween, with indoor and/or outdoor games... though skip 'bobbing for apples' this year. Too germy! Here's a few suggestions:

• Glowing Ring Toss: Use glow-in-the-dark necklaces to make rings, then toss to land on the pumpkin stems (works with Jack-o-Lanterns too). Of course, you do need pumpkins with stems... or you could use creepy dolls, witches hats, or various stuffed critters.
• Hanging Donuts: Get light, fluffy donuts (the less they weigh, the better), then hang them with string or yarns from the ceiling or a tree branch. Hang them at different heights, depending on whose playing... low for kids, high for adults. Players then compete to be the first to eat their donut, using only their mouths! Be sure to take pictures!
• Yarn Maze: Use yarn to criss-cross and area with 'spider-webs' and have players try to sneak through without getting tangled... a bit like spies avoiding lazer beams, really.
• Tombstone Bowling: Pretty much what it says... set up fake tombstones in a variety of places, and use either a ball or a fake pumpkin (which rolls weird!) to bowl them down. Require the ball/pumpkin be rolled -- not thrown!
• Spider Drop: Have a player stand on a step-stool or chair, then try to drop plastic spiders at one of two targets... a small pot (or cauldron, if you have one), and an even smaller jar, separated by about eight inches from each other. Getting a spider in gets a prize, and possibly two prizes if the spider makes it into the smaller target! Let each person have five spiders per turn, so everyone gets a chance.
• Treasure Hunt: Hide small bags of candy in or around the house, and either have an open ended treasure hunt, or give players specific clues to guide them... to more clues. Make them locate at least two other clues before the candy; and maybe have a stated additional small prize for who finds theirs first... and an unstated large prize for who finds theirs last! If using clues, I'd mark each treasure with a separate monster name, so no one can claim a treasure they were not sent after.

Scares and Fun:

• Halloween Cake: A sheet cake with some hidden objects inside. Originally, the objects represented a fortune of some sort -- finding a ring meant you were next to marry, a coin meant you'd be wealthy, a button that you'd never marry, etc. -- but the idea can be approached in a number of ways. Maybe different prizes for different finds, or each person has to act like the animal they find, etc. Bake a sheet cake, then introduce the tiny objects into it, hiding the fact with frosting.
• Hidden Horrors: cover several containers to hide their contents, then allow brave souls (with a reward of candy) to feel the hideously labeled items: Eyeballs (peeled grapes), Brain (large moist sponge), Dried Tongues (dried apricots), Veins/Worms (cold spaghetti with oil), Skin (flour tortilla with a little oil), Ears (dried apple slices), Zombie Fat (jello). You can also leave one with a hole in the back, so you can reach in and touch the victim...

There are some other ways to keep things interesting this year. One suggestion was that in homes with many doors, each door could be decorated and then treated as a separate 'trick or treating' stop for kids in the house, with family members hiding behind each with candy and scares. Watching spooky (or friendly-spooky) movies are good, and throw in a key word that get people candy if they repeat it whenever they hear it in the movie... like 'ghost,' 'monster,' or 'witch' (or 'Scooby-Doo') depending on the movie, of course. And costumes can always be shared via zoom or text, so show off!

Remember: Covid-19 doesn't care if Halloween is a holiday... all it cares about, if it cares about anything, is an opportunity to spread through a crowd of people -- and kids -- that are not socially distancing. So skip traditional trick-or-treating this year, and have fun at home.