9 Halloween Safety Tricks For A Ghostly Year

With the start of Fall coming up on our heels, Halloween is right around the corner. Children are deciding on costumes and accessories while their parents are determining what Halloween safety looks like in 2020. We have waited six years for Halloween to be on a Saturday and are just lucky enough that this year’s Saturday Halloween is in the middle of a pandemic. COVID-19 has brought a lot of illness, death, and change of lifestyle for many people which includes avoiding close contact, washing your hands regularly, and wearing masks. Halloween, unfortunately, is no exception to these rules. Some might be wondering if Halloween and trick-or-treating should be canceled this year?

Not necessarily. Trick-or-treating can still take place with some easy modifications. Families should be using the Center For Disease Control recommended practices that have been in place for the last several months which include but are not limited to hand hygiene, wearing a mask, and staying at least six feet apart. Communities can help share these rules and start practicing these Halloween safety behaviors now in order to keep trick-or-treating safe and fun this year. There have been a lot of changes in 2020 and the holiday season and activities are just going to look a little different. Here are 9 Halloween safety tips and alternative activities for this ghost and goblin filled night.

9 Halloween Safety Tricks For A Ghostly Year
Read More: How Did We Start Halloween?

4 Halloween Safety Tips

Pre-pandemic, protecting your children during Halloween meant carrying flashlights or glow sticks, looking both ways before crossing streets, never eating unwrapped candy, and sticking together in a group if they are old enough to trick-or-treat on their own. While those rules still apply, encouraging more Halloween safety this year is going to be as important as ever. Here are 4 additional tips to ensure your kiddos are having a safe and fun night of Halloween.

1. Limit Your Trick-Or-Treating Stops. This will not completely eliminate contact with others, but it will limit contact for sure. Instead of it being a free for all year as it has been in the past, limit your candy stops to just your neighborhood or houses on your street. This may be disappointing for your little ones, especially if they are used to running from house to house for hours, but set the expectations ahead of time and keep reminding them that things are just a little different this year. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, it just has to have more boundaries.

2. Costume Masks Versus COVID Mask. You might be thinking that a costume mask will be a good alternative to masks that should be worn daily to protect us from COVID-19, however that may not necessarily be the case. The best type of mask is one worn snug over the nose and mouth to provide the best protection. Some costume masks are loose-fitting, slide off easily, and might be extremely hot (depending on where you live) to keep on for the evening. An idea might be to decorate a face mask to match the costume. Get creative with wearing masks and reducing the spread of germs.

9 Halloween Safety Tricks For A Ghostly Year
Read More: 10 creative Homemade Halloween Costumes For Kids

3. Trick-or-Treat In The Driveway. Passing out candy to cute kids in costumes is such a fun tradition of trick-or-treating, but may not be part of the best Halloween safety tips for 2020. If you are wanting to still hand out candy this year, it might be best to designate one person from the house (preferably a masked-adult) and take your candy passing away from your front door. This will limit the constant opening and closing and doorbell ringing, but also potentially keep others germs from entering your house. In addition to a face-mask, it might be fun to also wear fun goblin or creature gloves to pass out the wrapped candy.

4. Alternatives To Passing Out Candy. If you are not wanting to come into physical contact with a lot of people on Halloween night, set up a table outside with individual bagged pieces of wrapped candy. This is an easy way for a quick grab and go candy stop. Another idea is to set up a bowl of candy and hand sanitizer at the end of the driveway. Do you think each trick-or-treater will only take one piece?

9 Halloween Safety Tricks For A Ghostly Year

5 Alternatives To Trick-Or-Treating

If trick-or-treating has been a family decision to postpone for 2020, there are other activities you can do at home and still be able to celebrate this spooky holiday. Here are 5 alternative trick-or-treating activities that will be sure to keep your kids laughing, screaming, and remembering for years to come about all the fun they had during the pandemic Halloween.

1. At Home Haunted House. As a kid, you remember the tingling sensation down your spine as you knew something was about to jump out and scare the living daylights out of you. You would scream at the top of your lungs even though you fully anticipated the scare. Remember those things as you start to turn your own house into a ghouls and goblins haunted house. It could be fun to set a theme for the house or a different theme for each room. It doesn’t need to be a mind-blowing activity. Simple enough it doesn’t take up too much time, and also appropriately cheesy enough for your kids to talk about for years to come.

2. Halloween Parades. During the start of the pandemic, people needed to find creative ways to celebrate and be social from a distance. Society has now perfected drive-by social gatherings and doing this for holidays should be no different. Make it a fun activity for neighborhood involvement, instead of just decorating for Christmas, make Halloween the new holiday where houses are awarded for their decorations. It could also be a trick-or-treating parade of candy throwing to kids in their cars while driving by. However, you want to spin it, get your neighborhood involved for a night of lights, blowup pumpkins and fun spooky music.

3. Candy Scavenger Hunt. While searching for candy isn’t the same as trick-or-treating, it is a fun way to keep Halloween safe. Whether you include just your kids indoor, or if you wanted to take it outside, you could always invite close family or friends and make it a small way to get your little ones excited. Decorate the bushes with spider webs, hang ghosts from your trees, turn on spooky sounds, and start spreading out the candy for an all-out race to see who can find the most sugar.

Read More: 10 Halloween Activities And Toys For Kids
9 Halloween Safety Tricks For A Ghostly Year

4. Back Yard games. Turn a Halloween night into a backyard field day. Set up a pumpkin patch, hang a piñata filled with sweet treats, and let the fun begin. Add in competitive games such as potato sack races, bobbing for apples, or even a pie-eating contest. The goal is to keep your kiddos busy and having fun. They will completely forget they aren’t out trick-or-treating but instead creating new family traditions for years to come.

5. Backyard Scary Movie Night. Classic scary movies such as Carrie, IT, The Exorcist and even Halloween are actually still scary. Depending on age and parental guidance, adding a classic scary movie to a backyard movie night could be a nice treat and fun thrill. This is also an activity that could be socially distanced if you wanted to invite friends who you know have also been socially distanced to hang out. Spacing everyone out on blankets and pillows, popping some popcorn and letting the screams begin could be a perfect celebration and a good way to practice Halloween safety 2020.


Halloween safety is important every year, but especially this year as we try and navigate social functions during a global pandemic. Fall is all about being outside, enjoying the cooler temperatures, and spending time with those you love. A change in holiday traditions doesn’t have to be upsetting, it is finding ways to be innovative, enjoying the moment, and creating new memories for years to come. Ghosts, goblins, and ghouls return year after year so changing it up a little won’t deter their presence in 2021. Happy Halloween!

WANT TO READ MORE?
Check out this article on Last-Minute DIY Halloween Costumes.

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Amber Comstock
Amber Comstock
A former-healthcare project manager, Amber is a Florida transplant living in Nashville with her baby girl, husband and rescue dog, Miles. Always on the hunt for new places to visit, Amber is a travel enthusiast at heart and has visited over ten countries! Despite her husband’s best attempts, she loves spending time in the kitchen trying new healthy and organic recipes. You can find Amber and her family on the weekends visiting the Nashville farmer’s market, scouting out new local activities/festivals and spending time outdoors.

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