When all of the COVID-19 madness began, I’m sure the last thing on anyone’s mind was how the kids in the community would be able to go trick-or-treating this year on Halloween. Let’s be honest – no one thought that the virus would last this long. Trick-or-treating is what brings this holiday to life. Dressing up as their favorite superheroes or princesses for buckets of free candy is something that kids look forward to all year long. Rather than taking this exciting day full of lifelong memories away from them due to the pandemic, why not come up with a solution? Trick-or-treating with a twist of social distancing! Here are some suggested solutions to celebrate Halloween during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While shopping for the kiddo’s costumes this year, it is totally okay to go to the stores if you have to. If you’d like to avoid this, try to shop online or even make costumes by hand. One of the benefits of Halloween during COVID-19 is that most children like to choose costumes that have masks and gloves anyways! This definitely comes in handy when trying to trick or treat and avoid the virus. When deciding which costumes to get for your children, definitely consider those with masks and gloves already built in. Make sure those masks are able to protect your kids from any germs and that their own germs are not able to spread through it. While some children may not want to wear a huge costume on their face all night, carrying the classic medical face masks we are all used to is an option and strongly encouraged.

Things might be a little different when it comes to kids knocking on your door all night. A solution to this is homeowners sitting outside while trick or treaters come for candy. If homeowners are sitting outside, this will limit all the germs being spread through ringing doorbells. The friendly neighbors handing out candy can wear gloves and set candy out prior to trick-or-treaters coming up to them. To avoid even more contact and to make this year’s Halloween completely touchfree, they could also use tongs to grab the candy and place it into buckets. Parents with trick-or-treaters can also carry a set of tongs themselves in case a homeowner does not have any with them. If a homeowner happens to set out a bowl of candy and you do not have tongs, it is important to only touch pieces of candy that you are taking. All of these solutions will make it easier for the homeowner to still give out candy without coming into contact with a bunch of little ones throughout the night.

Another major tip to our crazy Halloween in 2020 is to make sure to travel in small groups. Although most people are used to walking around the neighborhood in large packs with friends and family, it may be a smarter option to limit your group to six or fewer people this year. Traveling in small groups of six close family members or friends will contribute to stopping the spread of this virus.

This Halloween will be unlike any other, but it won’t be taken away from our Lake Nona community. If all of these guidelines are followed on the night of Halloween, the people of our community will be doing our best to still enjoy holidays like these, all while practicing social distancing. Of course, these are suggested solutions to protecting our community; they are not required. But if we are smart about how we celebrate this year by still wearing our masks and gloves, sticking with smaller groups, and giving out candy without contact, we will help contribute to stopping the spread of COVID-19. We as a community will be able to come together and safely celebrate this exciting night. Let’s do everything we can to keep our neighbors and families safe. Happy Halloween, Lake Nona!