Unique ways to trick or treat this Halloween amid the coronavirus pandemic

Unique ways to trick or treat this Halloween

Traditional trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treating, indoor haunted houses and tractor or hayrides— are all activities that should be avoided this Halloween. So how can you celebrate?

The CDC has released official guidance for celebrating several upcoming holidays, including Halloween, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Among the high-risk activities the agency is asking people to avoid for Halloween are:

• Traditional, door-to-door trick-or-treating.
• Trunk-or-treats.
• Attending crowded, indoor costume parties.
• Visiting indoor haunted houses.
• Going on hayrides with people not in your household.
• Using alcohol or drugs, which can cloud judgment and increase risky behaviors.
• Traveling to a rural fall festival that is not in your community, if you live in an area with community spread of COVID-19.

(Photo by Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Moderate-risk activities include:

• Participating in one-way trick-or-treating where individually wrapped goodie bags are lined up for families to grab and go while continuing to social distance (such as at the end of a driveway or at the edge of a yard)
• If you are preparing goodie bags, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after preparing the bags.
• Having a small group, outdoor, open-air costume parade where people are distanced more than 6 feet apart.
• Attending a costume party held outdoors where protective masks (not costume masks) are used and people can remain more than 6 feet apart.
• Going to an open-air, one-way, walk-through haunted forest where appropriate mask use is enforced, and people can remain more than 6 feet apart.
• If screaming will likely occur, greater distancing is advised. The greater the distance, the lower the risk of spreading a respiratory virus.
• Visiting pumpkin patches or orchards where people use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples, wearing masks is encouraged or enforced, and people are able to maintain social distancing.
• Having an outdoor Halloween movie night with local family friends with people spaced at least 6 feet apart.

Safe alternatives or low-risk ideas include:

• Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with neighbors or friends.
• Doing a Halloween scavenger hunt where children are given lists of Halloween-themed things to look for while they walk outdoors from house to house admiring Halloween decorations at a distance.
• Having a virtual Halloween costume contest.
• Having a Halloween movie night with people you live with.
• Having a scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treat search with your household members in or around your home rather than going house to house.