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Fun Halloween Activities During COVID-19

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Fun Halloween Activities During COVID-19

Oct 26, 2020

Just because you're social distancing, doesn't mean you can't celebrate Halloween this year. There are a lot of fun Halloween activities you and your family can enjoy—even during a global health pandemic. Pediatrician Dr. Cindy Gellner has some dos and don'ts on how to celebrate Halloween during COVID-19.

Episode Transcript

Halloween is a magical time for kids and adults. So how can you continue to enjoy Halloween during COVID? I've got some ideas for you on today's Scope.

Okay. So I admit it, I love Halloween. I was so looking forward to this year because Halloween is on a Saturday and there's a full moon, the perfect setup for the Halloween party we host every year at our house, and then COVID had to happen and mess everything up. Well, not everything. There are still a lot of fun things that you and your kids can do.

For example, we still plan on doing our outdoor decorations. We plan on welcoming trick-or-treaters but in a safe way. Our street is setting up tables that will go from our driveway to our neighbor's driveway across the street, not blocking the road, of course. And we will all be in costume, chairs for family set at least six feet apart, or people are bringing blankets to sit socially distanced on. The houses will all be decorated. We'll be wearing fun Halloween masks, COVID masks, and we'll be passing out individually wrapped treats, but we'll be using hotdog tongs to pick up the treats from the bowls and dropping them directly into the bags of the trick-or-treaters.

We also will have plenty of hand sanitizer available. We also have food and non-food treats. See, we are a teal pumpkin house, meaning we understand about kids with food allergies. I have many food allergies myself. And so we give away things like little tubs of Play-Doh. If kids want to walk past our place and just see all the scary decorations, that's great. If they want treats, we've got them. It's all what parents are comfortable with based on the risk factors that their family has.

So what are some other ideas that can make Halloween during COVID more fun? You can try an outdoor costume parade in the neighborhood or at a park with friends, keeping in mind that the kids still need to have their face masks on and stay six feet apart. And the masks that come with costumes, that's not what I'm talking about. We're talking the regular face masks that you wear every day.

You can also do virtual costume parties if you're good at setting up Zoom meetings. You can have all the kids dress up in their costumes and chat with each other. You can host an outdoor Halloween movie night with age-appropriate movies, or just have a Halloween movie marathon at home as a family. And don't forget decorating and carving pumpkins.

If you're planning on trick-or-treating, remember, again, the masks that come with the costumes are not a good substitute for the double layer COVID masks. Also, have the kids wait at the street if there are already kids at the door. Only go trick-or-treating with your immediate family members. And parents, if you're going with your kids, be sure to wear your masks also. Most importantly, remember this is a time for kids and parents to be creative about ways to celebrate Halloween in a safe way. Happy Halloween.