I’ve always adored Halloween, so as the current Covid-19 pandemic rages on for another Fall season, I’m getting a little nervous about how exactly we’re all going to make Halloween work. The traditional trick-or-treating seems a bit wrong this year – and encouraging kids under the age of 12 to be careful is the right thing to do. After all, we really want the kids to be able to stay in school without it being disrupted multiple times by outbreaks. Talk about SCARY. But… there’s got to be a way we can celebrate Halloween during Covid.

Wearing masks is what Halloween was made for, right? So surely parents and families everywhere can put on our thinking caps and get a little creative. So because Halloween MUST happen, and if we’re very careful and very innovative, we can collectively do another Quarantine-o-ween responsibly. Here’s how.

How to Celebrate 2021 Halloween During Covid

Here are 10 of our favorite ideas on how to celebrate our favorite spooky holiday!

Go Big on the Halloween Decorations

This is a great year to go all out on your outdoor Halloween decorations! Who knew that ghosts in trees, spooky inflatables, and silly skeletons would be the things to cheer us all up this Fall? Go the DIY route and craft some with the kids, or get serious and bust out your power tools for a bigger display.

Rocket City Mom is even scouting out big outdoor Halloween displays – if you have one that is note-worthy, let us know so we can feature you this Halloween season!

Socially Distanced Trick-or-Treating

Set up a station in your driveway with your disposable gloves, candy bowl, and hand sanitizer. Place plastic pumpkins 6 feet apart leading up to your driveway to indicate where kids can stand while waiting their turn at the candy bowl. If you live in a heavily-trafficked ToT neighborhood, a second person to manage the line is probably needed to keep kids where they should be. Position hand sanitizer on the way out of your driveway, and you’ve got a pretty good socially-distanced set-up. Get creative and decorate your station for added spooky points!

Neighborhood Trunk-or-Treating

Why not take the traditional trunk-or-treat idea out of the parking lot and into neighborhoods? You can even get inspired with these awesome Halloween trunks. Just park your car at the base of your driveway and keep everyone socially distanced & you’re set!

Outdoor Halloween Movie Marathon

A lot of different places now carry affordable outdoor projectors & screens, so hosting a socially-distant movie is easier than ever! Set it up in your backyard and purchase some hula hoops from the Dollar Store to help mark 6 feet of distance for families. You can stream movies from your computer or play them on DVD or BlueRay.

A few of our favorite movies to show:

• Hocus Pocus
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
• Beetlejuice
• Monster House
• The Addams Family
• Coraline
• ParaNorman
• Frankenweenie
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• Young Frankenstein

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

Remember those birthday and school drive-by’s we all participated in last year? Let’s apply it to Halloween! Coordinate with friends and neighbors a reverse trick-or-treating parade where costumed kids line the sidewalks or stand in their yards and candy tossers can bike or scoot while gently tossing treats. If your neighborhood can safely coordinate this with cars, you have a chance for grandparents to social distance AND still get to see the kids in their costumes on October 31st.

The key here is safety and visibility, so don’t overlook those components. The last thing you want is to combine kids, cars, candy, and darkness because that can get dangerous quickly.

Channel Your Inner Mad Scientist

Convert your kitchen in to a science laboratory and get ready to get weird! Whip up some spooky slime, ghost bubbles, pumpkin pie playdough, and more.

Getting Boo’d Has Never Been so Appropriate

Always great fun in the week leading up to October 31st, “Boo-ing” your friends is 100% socially distanced fun, and brings lots of joy to these unprecedented times. The concept is easy, just visit this website and follow the directions to print out the BOO sheet. There are lots of free printables and fun ideas on Pinterest, so you can customize your haunting to any budget or ability level.

Go on a Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Another great Halloween activity to do together in the car – see how many items on this Scavenger Hunt you can find in one hour. Reconvene and tally up the winner for a fun prize of your choice!

Host a Spooky Dinner Party

Invite family or your quarantine “pod” over for some ghoulish grub! Plan a delicious Halloween-themed dinner and go all out. It doesn’t have to be fancy or feature difficult recipes, either. Check out these menu options:

• Eyeball Pasta
• Halloweenies
• Mummy Meatballs
• Frito Pie
• Jack-o-Lantern Stuffed Peppers
• Spiderweb Cake
• Candy Corn on the Cob

Throw a Zoom Costume Fair

Invite your friends and family to show off their DIY costumes via Zoom or Google hangouts! Each person gets to talk about the inspiration for their costume and tell everyone how they put it together. Invite a face-painter to do a live demonstration on how to do zombie makeup, or another Halloween creature. Put together a Halloween playlist and share it with the party guests. You can even designate prizes for the winners and have them delivered via GrubSouth or DoorDash. Halloween Krispy Kreme’s, anyone?

Hopefully these ideas will get you going and you can choose a couple to do that your family will enjoy. It’s been a tough year, and Halloween is a great chance to blow off some steam (safely, of course) and celebrate the little things that bring us a sliver of happiness. Share your Quarantine Halloween ideas with us in the comments!

You Might Also Like…

• Awesome DIY Kid’s Halloween Costumes
• Have You Heard of the Halloween Fairy?
• No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas Kids Can Do