Let’s Creep It Real This COVID Halloween

Over the summer, we began making COVID-19 decisions about school. We then made more decisions about our kids participating in extracurriculars, sending college-aged kids off to the dorms. College football was even starting to make announcements regarding playing football this season.

Personally, my mind was spinning; it still is, but I started thinking about Halloween.

“Will there be a Halloween? Even if numbers are lower, am I comfortable with my kids going door to door? Will my kids understand that Halloween may need to be different? What will COVID-19 Halloween look like?”

My brain was always planning, so this was normal for me. I kept these thoughts to myself because I did not want to be the crazy person starting to ask about Halloween during our 4th of July family cookout.

The questions kept popping up in my head.  One afternoon in August, I was talking with a good friend, and she said to me, “What do you think will happen with Halloween this year?”
YES, I thought! I am not alone with the summer worries about how the holidays are going to change. We immediately started sharing our worries about Halloween, and I realized how many families will be looking for alternate plans.

The villain for Halloween this year = COVID-19.

After searching online for ideas with no luck, I decided to reach out to the most creative, imaginative person I know, my 8-year-old! I discovered by bringing him into the conversation that it was not difficult to get his buy-in on changing up Halloween this year. Since he could incorporate his ideas into our plans, there was no disappointment with our decision not to trick-or-treat.

With Halloween falling on a Saturday, my kiddo wanted a party. Luckily, we love to entertain. We agreed with certain ground rules in place:

• A small party with the neighborhood families that we have seen regularly.
• No trick-or-treating – if anyone we invite decides to partake in traditional trick-or-treating, we will ask that they not attend our gathering this year. It would defeat the purpose of not trick-or-treating ourselves.
• And when my son suggested bobbing for apples – It was an immediate, no! Kids trying to grab apples in the same bucket with their mouths, scary!

Other than that, let’s get creative and have some Halloween fun!

Fingers crossed the weather will be in that nice middle spot between not too hot and not too cold! Football games and Halloween movies playing, fire pit blazing with s’mores supplies, costume contests, and ghoulish games throughout the night. There must be lots of candy and sweet treats for the little ghosts and potions for the legal age witches and wizards. If we break out into a Halloween music dance party and karaoke jam session, we would not be opposed.

What was once a band-aid to get us through Halloween this year has become exciting and fun. My Pinterest board is filling up daily, and since we have committed to this plan early as a family, we have time to prepare and incorporate the kids’ ideas with ours.

Next year, we will return to trick-or-treating, but this year we will look at this change as a gift to create different memories and try something new.