Are you celebrating Halloween this year?

[chesterfieldgirl]

Big Halloween fan and always celebrate, decorate and take part in all the festivities. Will you still be celebrating it and if so what will you be doing/ what will you be doing differently because of the current circumstances? 🧙🏼‍♀️🧛🏼‍♀️

We will do something at home even if we can't do anything else. We'll decorate and I'll probably run some games for the dc, and we'll watch an unscary but slightly halloweeny film (Im thinking Curse of the Were-Rabbit might be good).

I honestly dont know what to do.My daughter loves trick or treating.I have told her we may just have a mini halloween party at home instead this year .But i know she wants to go out ,i dont know what to do.Plus whats worst all the bonfire night stuff going to be cancelled

can we really let them go out with the threat of another lockdown

Mine want to go out guising with their friends, I'm not sure yet. We have increased restrictions here so will have to wait.

Once the dcs got past being wee ones, we stopped bothering with Hallowe'en, so just an ordinary day here.

Going to decorate the house.
Take our time doing the pumpkins.
Make a Halloween meal. Maybe make chocolate apples with sprinkles.
Watch a film.

Don’t think we’ll do trick or treating.

I'm waiting to see what the advice is. I've heard a general idea that Halloween will be more focused on decorations this year, so kids can walk round and look at them similar to the rainbow walks in spring. If that's the case, I have some great ideas (in fact, I may have already got a bit over excited and placed a hobbycraft order).

I'm worried that if I put up decorations, people will expect sweets though, and I just can't see how to do it safely. Opening the door to loads of people and handing stuff over just seems too risky.

We'll hand out sweets but will place them straight into each child's bag rather than let them take one from the bowl. Since they'll be outside the risk of transmission is extremely low as long as there's no actual physical contact.

Our area is well known for Halloween, people come by car!
This year I will decorate outside the house like normal but will put out a (regularly topped up) bowl of sweets and a help yourself sign.
If my DC want to go out then they can

No kids yet but tempted not to put pumpkin out for trick or treating this year as I will be heavily pregnant and not wanting the risk. When I was kid mum used to arrange for traditional games such as Apple bobbing and a big string that went across the kitchen with Scots pancakes on smaller strings so they all moved. Syrup was applied and then you had to eat with no hands (we loved it). am sure there are other games. Plus we made pumpkin pie and I think we used Halloween biscuits one year. I think it could be a great night with the family.

Ours are older so we don’t bother as much bar a movie and pizza, i usually decorate outdoors and hand out candy but not doing it this year. Can’t really hand out candy from 2m away and we get a lot here so that’s potentially a lot of contacts.

Trick or treating doesn't seem like a great idea. But I'll definitely get some pumpkins to carve and decorate the house a bit. We'll probably watch some scary films and do some apple bobbing and stuff.

I'm more wondering what to do about bonfire night. We love a firework display and definitely can't/wouldn't do one in the garden. I can't see any organised displays being on.

My plan is to decorate and place a small table outside with a bowl of sweets so the children can take one. But no ringing of the bell and no handing sweets over.

When mine were very little I would take them to a few pre arranged family members homes for trick or treating. Perhaps this is the way forward this year? I'm a kill joy anyway though, and I've always hated the whole ethos of knocking on doors asking strangers for sweets! I live in a row of old houses on a main road with mostly elderly neighbours, so it isn't a thing where I live.

It's our wedding anniversary so will definitely be celebrating somehow.
Booked a socially distanced trip to a pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin a few days before hand. We'll decorate the house and the dollshouses, read lots of Halloween related books and will go for a walk in the woods with the kids dressed in their costumes. Will make gingerbread biscuits in spooky shapes and eat them watching something, I think there is a new feature length scooby doo cartoon coming out for Halloween so probably that. Once the children are in bed, we'll watch Sleepy Hollow (the film we saw on our first date many years ago) with a bottle of wine.

Going to hang a basket of individual wrapped sweets on the hanging basket hook.

We don’t have young dcs any more but I shall put a pumpkin in the window as usual in case any T or T-ers do come. I will leave a big bowl of mini packs of Smarties in the porch, with a sign saying ‘Please take just one’ and will hope there will be plenty left for me and dh to scoff. 🐷

Pumpkin won’t be wasted anyway since I always turn it into Thai style soup the next day. Onion, chilli, ginger, garlic and a can of coconut milk, yum.
Dd will decorate and do something with Gdcs. I’ve already made this for them, to add to the decorations.

I think a big bowl of sweets for kids to rummage through sounds like a germ party, pandemic or not.

I'm thinking perhaps I'll just raise my front window a tiny bit and slide the sweets out onto the outside windowsill.

Our local farm park is doing a ticketed event with pumpkin carving and a fancy dress competition so hope to get tickets for that.

If other kids are trick or treating then I will take mine out and I will buy sweets for giving out.

We don't need to socially distance from kids in Scotland (don't know about England), it is an outdoor activity and I know how to wash my hands so I don't see it as being risky at all providing people only go to houses with decorations etc. and don't disturb anyone else.

I love Halloween 🎃

Home bargains have got Halloween pinatas and pass the parcel games all Halloween themed. I'm going to stand outside and have sweets on a big pumpkin plate, also from home bargains.

I'll decorate with an autumn witchy wreath and pumpkins and inside. Not sure about trick or treating this year though. I'll wait to see till nearer the time and otherwise just buy the kids some treats and watch a movie. Movie ideas? Not to scary.

@Sniv

I think a big bowl of sweets for kids to rummage through sounds like a germ party, pandemic or not.

I'm thinking perhaps I'll just raise my front window a tiny bit and slide the sweets out onto the outside windowsill.

Reading my own post back...is the window idea bonkers or not? I can no longer tell 😂

I want to do Halloween because I think we all need a bit of (safe) fun, but I just don't feel comfortable with the big rummage bucket idea, nor passing stuff face-to-face at the door. Standing at the window and passing stuff under the glass feels a bit safer - like I'm at the post office desk or something (except, you know, wearing a witch hat and with a tub of Maoams).

I love trick or treating, but it is hard to see a way it could be safe. I think leaving a bowl of sweets out is not a good idea re transmitting Covid.

I more or less know who is going to be trick or treating in our village by name i am wondering if it would be mad to bag up named sweets for them and tape them to the door.

Not sure if there is a way to make it safe for my dc to go trick or treating though. Unless I can agree with a few families who I know will do things safely just to go to them.

Fine if sweets are quarantined for three days. No worse than any other year.

I don't think I'd feel comfortable knocking on doors this year but I think the risk of kids sticking their hands in a bowl to grab a wrapped sweet is quite small. And they'll all have masks on!!
I usually decorate and do a bit more each year, my kids love it and I feel a weird sense of pride when people take photos of our house!