Holiday, Tips & Tricks
How to Safely Celebrate Halloween During COVID-19
Masking up takes on a whole new meaning this year, as we all navigate how to safely celebrate Halloween 2020. No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic is putting a cramp in our spooky style, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the frightfully festive occasion. With a little creativity and rallied spirit, we can find some wicked fun ways to make the most of it.
Fun Ways to Celebrate Halloween at Home
1. Halloween-Themed Activities
If you’d rather stay in your own home, there are Halloween activities during COVID that you can do as a family unit. Get some games like pin the eye on the skeleton or snap up some creepy crafts or fall DIYs for kids to embrace the spirit together. Carve pumpkins, make your own Halloween costumes – the possibilities are endless.
2. Halloween Movie Marathon
Bake a monster-batch of cookies, assemble some sweet and candy-filled popcorn and watch a spooky movie from the comfort of your couch. Check out some of our favorite treats and Halloween movies for the family. Costumes optional, festive PJs required. Want to make this more fun? Turn it into Halloween Bingo with cards that you make depending on the movies you watch. We especially love these free, printable Disney Villain Bingo cards.
3. Virtual Costume Party
Halloween spirit doesn’t have to be lost this year. Coordinate with friends and family for a fun virtual Halloween costume party. Make it a contest and have the kids guess who the people are behind the costumes. You can even host a pumpkin carving contest over video chat.
4. DIY Haunted House
Now you don’t actually have to make it scary for the sake of the kids, but it would still be fun to spend an afternoon adorning the house in Halloween decorations for a fun night in. Cover it in DIY cobwebs made from cotton balls and a can of aerosol hairspray, jack-o-lanterns, DIY pipe cleaner spiders and more.
Ways to Celebrate Halloween Safely With Others
1. Trick-or-Treat Green “Light”
Still want to trick or treat? You can come together as a neighborhood to establish a plan. A piece of green construction paper on your door means “We’re open for trick or treating,” a piece of red translates to “Sorry, not this year!” Better yet, agree as a neighborhood to put individual bags of candy outside on a table, deck or porch, so there’s no potential for face-to-face interaction. Is this the ideal situation? No. But, to be honest, as long as the kids are collecting candy, they’ll be pretty darn happy.
If you will be ringing doorbells, be sure to wear a face mask (in addition to your spooky mask!). Either way, bring hand sanitizer to squirt between every stop.
2. Halloween Scavenger Hunt
If trick or treating and accruing candy that’s been touched by other people is not in your comfort zone – and understandably so – consider a community alternative. Set up a scavenger hunt either on your own lawn or throughout the neighborhood. The kids can earn points towards candy you have pre-purchased by finding jack-o-lanterns, glow-in-the-dark eggs, ghost decorations and other assorted spooky items on their list.
3. Costume Parade
Half the fun of Halloween is showing off your costume and seeing everyone else’s hilarious and cute creations. You can still enjoy this display of creativity! Organize a costume parade route in your town. The kids can march through the neighborhood to show off their outfits and accessories, while friends and loved ones cheer on all the sweet witches, fairies and superheroes from a safe distance.
4. Drive-In Theater
Plenty of drive-in movie theaters have popped up during the pandemic. Check if there are any in your area that will be showing Halloween films. This will probably be a first for a lot of little kids, so pack up those blankets and sweet treats and crank up that radio!
Halloween 2020 is not canceled. You can still have your fun and eat candy, too, with a few of our favorite social distancing Halloween ideas. Just don’t forget to snag your costumes, decorations, and essentials now while there’s still time. Shop with Rakuten to earn Cash Back on all your scary-cool purchases. Happy Halloween and happy saving!
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