Though this year is an unusual situation considering the pandemic outbreaks, many families still want to give their children a safe and fun Halloween experience. My family is just the perfect example. 

My family has considered many possible activities that can be done at home. Ideas such as carving pumpkins, cosplay at home, watching Halloween movies, and decorating houses are all fun and doable and contain some forms of Halloween characteristics. But considering my brothers’ age, in which they are almost 7, and their interests, we soon realize that they are only interested in the actual Trick-or-Treat. 

Trick-or-Treat is an activity, during Halloween night, in which children dress in costumes, travel from house to house asking for treats, usually candy, using the phrase “Trick-or-Treat.” Though Trick-or-Treating outside will be a fun activity, extra planning should be done when participating in this kind of community activity under this year’s special conditions. Here are some points that we have to consider if we go Trick-or-Treat: 

1. Masks and gloves

Young children tend to have weaker resistance to viruses, and masks are considered important and essential protection against COVID-19 spread, which means they will definitely have to wear masks during the whole activity. Because of this, the characters that my brothers are cosplaying will most likely be the ones that wear a mask. However, this kind of mask will not offer much protection, so my parents are planning to add another layer of medical mask underneath the decoration. On top of that, gloves are also necessary when taking the candy from other families and touching other materials such as doorbells. 

2. After Cleaning

Under this year’s special circumstance, after cleaning is just as important as the protections taken during the fun experience. Unsurprisingly, my family decided to disinfect everything that was carried and used on Halloween night, from as small as the candies to as big as all clothing and the boxes and bags used during the process. This is going to ensure the good health of the family and decrease the possibility of being infected. For me, this is the most critical process in keeping my family safe while attending such a community event. 

3. Social distancing

Of course, we have to keep a safe distance when Trick-or-Treating. Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that social distancing can decrease an individual’s chance of being infected. The idea of social distancing is to maintain a safe distance between the people who are not from your household. Drive throughs are just a great example of social distancing, where there is minimal physical contact with other people. But making sure that the kids will stay distanced will be a little bit hard, especially when they see their friends. And so their parents/guardians will have to always keep a close look on them, making sure that they are distanced while having fun. 

Strict safety precautions should be considered for attending this year’s Trick-or-Treat celebrations. Though some of them may be a bit troublesome and time-consuming, masks, Gloves, social distancing, and after cleaning practices are all indispensable. Of course, the best choice to keep our family away from the infection is to stay home.