Celebrating Halloween this year looks very different than in the past. With the Coronavirus still present in everyday life, it has put lots of restrictions on typical Halloween festivities. 

While common Halloween traditions such as trick or treating and haunted houses were cancelled this year, there have been many alternate strategies of making this year’s Halloween just as eventful as any other year. For example, East Meck sophomore Ellison Norton and her neighborhood found a creative way to celebrate Halloween keeping social distancing in mind. 

“My neighborhood set up tables at the ends of each driveway with grab and go candy bags.” Norton said. “Each family sat towards the tops of their driveways in order to stay socially distant.”

“I found this strategy to be honestly better than normal trick or treating, because each bag included a lot more candy than if you were normally trick or treating. The bags also included items such as hand sanitizer.” Norton said.

While this may look different than normal trick or treating, it still provides a fun way to celebrate and interact with those around you while staying safe. 

“It was fun seeing little kids dress up and watch everyone still have fun and celebrate.” Norton said. “It made me forget that there even was a pandemic because it just felt pretty much the same as any other Halloween.”

However, due to the pandemic still occurring, there are still several limitations and guidelines to be met. For example, lots of annual neighborhood and family parties could not occur. 

“My neighborhood typically throws a get together every year on Halloween, however we had to stay safe and socially distant, so we couldn’t do that this year.” Norton said. “However, by hanging out and seeing everyone pass by the neighborhood and getting to talk to everyone, we were still able to keep the tradition alive in a way.”

Even with adjustments due to COVID-19, there are still ways to celebrate holidays such as Halloween in a fun and safe way.