Halloween, naturally, is one of the most decorative holidays.  You dress up, you go to parties, and everything is looking spooky.  But, we all know that Halloween this year isn’t going to be like any previous years.  There won’t be any trick-or-treating or Halloween parties due to COVID-19.  But, there are still ways to have fun on this haunting holiday!  To help you come up with a few ideas, here’s a list of COVID-friendly ideas to have a spooky, but safe, Halloween.

1. Something that you can do on Halloween is watch some of the Halloween TV specials or movies.  On Disney+, there is a Halloween Specials section which includes all of the Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror episodes, A Nightmare Before Christmas, Coco, Hocus Pocus, and more.  You can watch horror movies, Disney movies, maybe even It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! Just bust out some popcorn, and watch them all! 
2. You can also do a Zoom costume party.  Even though you will not have the joy of running around in your costume, you can still show it off on Zoom.  You can set up a meeting with friends and family, have a Halloween themed dinner, eat candy, and do a fashion show, all virtually.  Meeting up with friends is hard this year, but you can still see their faces and talk to them through a Zoom party.  The best part is, you don’t even need to leave the house!  
3. Even though trick-or-treating is out of the question, we can still do all of the traditional Halloween activities, including pumpkin carving, scavenger hunts, and Halloween-themed baking.  Pumpkins are on sale at grocery stores, so why not carve one into a spooky face!  There is no shortage of candy or Halloween toys, so why not hide a couple around your house?  And for those of you bakers, you can make your usual batch of cookies and decorate them into skeletons, bats, or vampires.
4. You can go around your neighborhood and look at Halloween decorations that your neighbors put up outside their houses. You won’t be trick-or-treating, but you can still strut around town all decked out in your costume!  Most public areas will have Halloween decorations up, so why not waste the opportunity to check them out in the dark.
5. Something else you could do during this festival of fear is to tell ghost stories around a campfire.  If you are at a place with a campfire, great!  If you are not, you could turn off all of the lights and tell spooky stories to your family, or even do it over Zoom.  Spooky stories have always been a Halloween tradition, so stick to it!  Innovate!  Find your own way to share your frightening tales with others.

If none of these activities sound appealing to you, why not create your own?  You could create a new family tradition, like going out in the woods after dark, or playing hide-and-go-seek in a haunted house.  There are no limits to the imagination, so brainstorm ideas for cool things to do! 

Again, this Halloween isn’t going to be like one from previous years, but there are lots of ways that this is better than before.  We now can reach out with Zoom to see people who are far away  and can buy as much candy as we want, instead of frantically ringing doorbells to get it.  In a way, this Halloween will be better than those before, so make the best of it!