COVER STORY
) e f a S (and by Elizabeth Morse Read
Along with ghoulies and ghosties, long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night, trick-or-treaters and their parents need to avoid exposure to Covid-19 this Halloween, too.
With a few changes, some creative planning, and sensible precautions, everyone can enjoy a safe and exciting holiday – and some of your new Halloween “traditions” could become annual favorites!
Safety in (Small) Numbers
Avoiding crowds – especially indoors – is a top priority this Halloween. Plan on a series of small Halloween activities stretched out over several days instead of one big event on October 31. Limit invitations to indoor activities to your immediate family, school-age friends/ carpool pods who share your health practices regarding Covid-19 – maskwearing, vaccinations, hand hygiene, and social distancing. If possible, include “virtual Halloween” activities and contests to include children not in your immediate group. In case the weather doesn’t cooperate with your planned outdoor activities, have backup plans for either invitationonly indoor or virtual events. Work with neighbors, adult friends, teachers, and relatives to plan out several days’ worth of age-appropriate Halloween activities – cookie-making, scavenger hunts, costume parades, spooky movies, or backyard fire-pit scary stories with cider and donuts.
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If possible, include “virtual Halloween” activities and contests to include children not in your immediate group. Who’s behind that mask
If you’re going to take your children door-to-door for trick-or-treating, they’ll still need to wear an appropriate mask to protect them from the virus, even though they’ll be outdoors. Avoid children’s costumes that come with a full-face mask or a mask which covers the child’s entire head. Do not let children wear a cloth or surgical mask beneath a costume mask – it will not only interfere with their vision, but it will also make it more difficult for them to breathe. Better to decorate a cloth or paper surgical mask and incorporate it into the costume’s design – a mustache, a scary monster mouth, a clown’s smile, or an animal’s snout.
Get Crafty!
Build up the excitement by getting kids of all ages involved in making holiday decorations! Pumpkin-carving (or
October 2021 | The South Coast Insider
painting) can be a great activity both indoors or outdoors. Keep knives away from the little ones, and give each child a separate carving set or box of non-toxic colored markers, rather than let them share utensils. Give everyone their own beverage and bag of chips (sharing food and drinks could pass on the virus). Lay down plenty of newspapers on the table and floors, and have several grown-ups on hand to help and supervise. Decorate Halloween cookies! You can minimize the mess by buying packages of round sugar and gingersnap cookies and giving each child several tubes of colored frosting/gel. Refrigerate to let the frosting/gel harden. Spend an afternoon making Halloween decorations with colored construction paper, crepe paper streamers, styrofoam balls, paper plates and colored markers to display on windows, walls or in the children’s bedrooms. Draw scary monster hand-puppets on brown paper lunch bags with colored markers.
Virtual Halloween
If the weather’s bad or if your little ones aren’t feeling well, plan some stayat-home holiday activities. Go virtual trick-or-treating using Zoom, FaceTime,
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