We usually get lots of trick or treaters, and hub and I dress for the occasion. The argument is already raging this year, with most people saying they will violate any rule prohibiting trick or treating.

I will abide by my community's decision, whether I like it or nor.

It's one of my favorite things. I'm thinking as little contact and everyone will have on masks, right? that it should be all right to pass out candy Halloween but I'll abide by what my town decides.

I'm not planning on it, and I will not answer the door on Halloween this year. I have no problem with putting a moratorium on it this year. Some years we don't get any anyway, and I do not know any children in this neighborhood. Most people here do not have children, or if they do, they have moved out or just live elsewhere.

The pandemic will be my excuse to take a pass this year. To be honest, I haven’t enjoyed Trick or Treating for years.

It was fun when my two were doing it and I also looked forward to seeing the neighbors and friends that I knew.

But, for years now, I don’t know any of the children ringing the bell. Sorry, but it is no longer something I am interested in. There are enough houses in my neighborhood, no one will miss one less home.

That said, I’m sure there won’t be the usual door to door this year anyway. So, the decision will be made for me.

I'm thinking along the same lines as Lars - we barely get anybody anyway - maybe a couple or 3 door knocks all night. I can put a bowl on the porch. I don't do candy, just party favors, toys, etc.

Our neighborhood has a costume parade way on the other side of the island, and I know there's been talk of cancelling it this year. That's where all the trick-or-treaters go.

Might or might not put up some decor - it's tough to be in the mood for any kind of celebrating this year. Didn't do anything for the other holidays so far...

We are taking a pass on opening the door to trick or treaters this year. Our neighborhood usually has a big Halloween party for the kids, but they are planning something else for them this year. Not sure what that will look like yet though.

For some lighthearted fun, check out this zip line ghost that delivers treats. A friend posted it today on his FB page. I missed out a lot on Halloween as a kid so oddly enough ended up making up for it when I ran a school camp and we had a big Halloween event for one of our schools that traditionally brought all their kids the week before, everyone loved it, it was a great tradition--haunted hayrides, silly made up ghost stories and haunted houses, trick or treating with goofy Halloween jokes . . . all in good fun, nothing too macabre. Those of us who are kids at heart and love some theater and dress up will really miss this holiday, and we'll probably try to come up with some safe "Work Arounds." Not me though, our house is pretty dead anyway, and we're not going to any parties any time soon . . https://nerdist.com/article/halloween-trick-or-treat-zip-line/

I always get together with the neighbors out front where we put tables up and bring large bowls of candy for the kids and wine (for us). We or at least I will not be giving out candy this year. What a shame for the kids and us adults because it’s fun for all. We have a good amount of trick or treaters here. I’ll be hiding out in the bedroom with the dogs where no house lights can be seen from the street. I’m pretty sure my next door neighbor will not be partaking as well.

I live in a huge neighborhood with a very strong HOA that organizes a big block party for Halloween. There's cotton candy, popcorn, dinner, and a DJ. There's also trick or treating at the homes around the block but that's not the emphasis. The homes that aren't in that part of the neighborhood don't have trick or treating. My older son likes hanging out at the block party with friends while my younger son prefers to go to a friend's more traditional neighborhood to trick or treat. This year, I don't feel comfortable leaving the neighborhood to trick or treat and our HOA is examining block party alternatives since the party is usually way too crowded for social distancing.

I'm planning some fun family events though like watching a Halloween movie outside, doing a drive thru Halloween haunted house, and going to a huge pumpkin patch where it's easy to social distance.

"Germy candy"?! HOW! I do not understand this guideline. #1 all contact house to treater would be well under 10 minutes. #2 COVID transmission via hands to paper is MINIMAL IF NONE!! #3 Easy to stay 3yrds apart when a treater comes to the door. This will be MUCH MUCH less contact than kids have at schools!!!! This has gotten to the realm of STUPID. I get no parties--but trick or treating OUTSIDE is about the safest!! My neighborhood is pretty level headed. I think the kids will be coming around. I will decorate for the season as always and I will be ready with my full size Reeses's pumpkins!

We live in a 55+ age restricted, gated community so obviously there are no children living here and a caravan of non residents with kids in costumes not visiting a specific person would not be allowed to enter anyway. It’s a non issue here.

However, there is no way I would allow my kids to trick or treat this year if I had any that age. it won’t kill, maim, or cause psychological damage to children to miss a year of trick or treating, What a silly world we live in, where any sacrifice for the general welfare and public health is seen as an affront to personal freedom! What would these Covid deniers and right wing nutters do if a war came to our shores and demanded real sacrifices in our routines and creature comforts? I don’t generally like this phrase, or use it, but some people just need to get over themselves.

We normally get a lot of kids. Our neighbors do a large Halloween display and that attracts crowds, though this year maybe they won't do it. I'd consider the chute! I hate that kids would miss out. Many come from the apartments the other side of the major road and we get large groups of families.

Edit: I normally buy 15-20 bags of candies, and we can't eat all those! And I have no students in person to take them the day after.

I think this year it’s ok to explain to the kids that things must be different. It’s ok. They’ll live!

Arcy, I know what you are saying, it is a minimal risk but I’m in a county that had a high rate. My husband and I have already had it once. On top of that I’m worried I could be a carrier and not be aware of it. My husband works down south where it’s worse and still has the occasional coworker test positive. I know there are parts of the country where it would be much safer, just depends... it’s not a one size fits all. The parents taking the kids would technically be more at risk.

Well hearing here about how many neighborhoods have big gatherings and parties and kids hanging out at said parties with their friends, I can see why the CDC would caution against that. They have to make very, very generalized recommendations. The sparse groups of families walking around in my neighborhoods were what I was thinking of, but the big neighborhood mingles would definitely not be good. I didn't experience such nice and elaborate Halloween activities growing up, so I can attest that I grew up reasonably able to function and not scarred by missing it. It did give me a bit of a cosplay itch, but I can manage it . . . I never even understood why my son in law took his 2 month old baby trick or treating . . . yeah, just the parents and the two month old, no other kids . . . I have started noticing it as a thing in my neighborhood, parents dressing up their babies and taking them around trick or treating. It seems to me they are still wanting to trick or treat themselves, so now the excuse is showing off the baby. Nothing so terrible about that, I think adults missing the fun of trick or treating is valid, but certainly something that could be opted out of and not be an oppressive detriment to our lives . . . I could see doing a neighborhood Halloween decoration drive thru event, etc.

My children are too old to trick or treat, but I feel terribly for younger children! My goodness, they have had so much taken from them this year! I think our is working on ways to do it creatively and safely.

I pink mountain

I did that with my kids because they enjoyed it and the few homes we went to enjoyed seeing them in their costumes. I didn’t take any candy though.

Oh yes, TC please don't think I was criticizing it, I thought it was nice and I did enjoy seeing the babies and I didn't even mind giving the parents the candy! Who says grown ups can't enjoy free candy?! Just commenting that missing out on it one year would not be much of a problem seems to me (that's what I mean about not understanding it, just not understanding why it was essential, not why it was fun), since people did not do that when I was growing up. Not saying it's a bad thing to do, just saying it is not essential. I actually adore seeing dressed up babies, but again, that goes back to me wanting to extend dress up time even way into adulthood. I worked at a camp for years and every Friday we would have a theme special day with special dress up requirements, so I'm all for extending this kind of thing into other holidays as well!!

We get zero trick or treaters out here.....The family of 11 across the street goes into church, 3 of my neighbors are JW, and my driveway is 1/4 mile long, with a house that cannot be seen from the road. I hope they can find a way to safely do what they want to do.

When I lived in a neighborhood, I LOVED trick or treaters!!

I love Halloween and so do my kids. But we’ve already had the conversation that it will not happen for us this year, even if our community decides to hold it. We‘ll still have pumpkins for the kids to carve, and this year they get to shop for candy using the Kroger app for curbside pickup. They’re actually kind of happy to get only the candy they really like! We’ll just turn off the lights on 10/31 and find something fun to do in the basement lol.

No worries here about making a decision. We have lived in this house for 5 Halloweens and not one kid has ever rang the bell. Even marked my house as giving out candy on the NextDoor candy map. My neighborhood is older, no kids within a couple of blocks and a steep hill. Much more loot a few blocks away.

Trick or Treating where oh where is the risk? To parents? HOW??? The only contact they would have with ANYONE is their own children!! How do so many not comprehend how this is spread. Ya need to be in doors first. Second ya need CLOSE contact for over 10 minutes!! Outside, many will wear masks..there just is not a risk!! It wont' do damage to not trick or treat? It will not do any damage to trick or treat!!! 99.4% of people who contract COVID*19 SURVIVE and do JUST FINE! The age of the children and parents are LOW RISK for getting let alone dying of this!!!! The CDC has gone of the deep end. READ the SCIENCE!! If you feel you are a carrier and could spread through paper handling First YOU WON'T but even so the receiver could EASILY quarantine the candy over night and any virus on the paper would be dead by morning!! SCIENCE FOLLOW THE SCIENCE!!

There are holes in your argument big enough to drive a tractor trailer through, Arcy. Facebook posts do not constitute science. Between your misspelled, over-simplified rants and the CDC, I’ll choose the actual scientists’ advice. The only concerns I have with the CDC are those recommendations they change bowing to political pressure from the White House. Silly world.... I guess should have not have characterized the current misinformation as silly. Ignorance is dangerous.

There are probably ways people could trick or treat in a socially distant, safe way. But people across the country have proven they are too lazy or stupid to do that even to protect their own children. The minute restrictions are eased or lifted, some forget to stay vigilant against virus transmission, others fling caution to the wind to live it up, and still others deliberately and militantly seek close contact in crowds to “prove” the claims of their deluded fuhrer—that the virus is not dangerous and will magically disappear, or magically avoid Republicans. People have the right to their own opinions but they do not have the right to their own facts, KellyAnne Conway‘s claim of “you have facts, we have alternate facts” notwithstanding.

Hi Arcy, I do think if you live in an area with low to no cases the risk is low to no. My county at one time had a high positive count. The last I heard there were a few places around doing a trunk or treats so it’s really just a cut back on door to door. I‘m not up on how the Democrats And Republicans are doing the trunk or treat but imagine there is distancing and some sort of inventive way of giving candy.

The CDC considers traditional trick or treating and trunk or treats to be higher-risk activities.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html#halloween

BTW, traditional Halloween masks don't protect against COVID.

We’ve decided to skip it this year. It makes me so sad, I love having lots of trick or treaters and seeing the cute costumes. We usually go all out with Halloween decor/lights, and kids love it. But I just think it’s the best decision for these times, especially in my area.

I’ll still put out fall decor, but not Halloween.

It is instructive that a rant filled with yelling and misinformation actually asks, "How do so many not comprehend how this is spread."

Unfortunately, it is a higher risk activity because of the mixing of multiple households. We get multiple *large groups* of families, which I normally love to see. It may just have to be a pass this year. Although putting a basket at the end of the driveway is obviously safe for us, it puts others in close proximity to each other.

Science. Brought to you by Professor Arcy.

🙄

I was going to say that I thought trunk or treats might be riskier because it would be a group, large groups at some points. Our church generally does a fall festival with "trunk or treat" but not this year.

I do think trick or treating could be done safely if you are not in a high risk area. We have very few trick or treaters any more. However, we do have a new family down the road with young ones. Kids are back in school here (in school, not online) so they are already exposed to other kids. I am doing a few cups (found cute plastic cups - jack-o-lanterns with googly eyes), and I could do a couple of treat bags for the new kids also. Other than that, we will probably just turn off the lights.

My husband wants to put a bowl of candy out on the porch. I'm more of the mind to give it a pass this year. Depending on the weather and the day of the week, we have had zero (rainy weeknight) to maybe 25 or so being a peak year. It hardly seems worth the effort to see if we get any kids this year. I might feel differently if we talk to neighbors ad find out their kids will be going around -- but we will either leave candy out or come up with a delivery system. If the delivery system works and we can avoid two large dogs barking and running to the door, I'd be willing to do it every year. Alexa, drop the candy! LOL

We usually get about 100 kids a year. We have a strong public health comms strategy through our chief medical officer so I’m sure they will advise the community. Our schools are fully in session with one active case in province so they may not come out against it. I was thinking doing like an Easter egg hunt or just trick or treating at the grandparents’ houses this year and doing up little baggies for the local kids we know.

@d d

That info is out-of-date. You need to read the most up-to-date CDC info because the recommendations have drastically changed.

@dd: The date on your CDC article is March 03, 2020, like a lifetime ago in terms of what we know today about COVID-19. Tonight on 60 Minutes, one of the doctors working on a vaccine was asked which she would prefer if she could have a mask or a vaccine and she said a mask because they have been proven to be effective, a vaccine will not be 100% effective.

Stupid. Easy to identify trumpers.

I flagged the post by "d d" because it is blatant disinformation. Surprised it's still here.

Sheesh, you remind me so much of Arcy. Just on the other side.

I haven't heard a word about Trick or Treat around here. My DS is older now, but we still liked to do Trick or Treat for the Trick or Treaters. I just go with the flow around here now.

I agree, Ida, it should be flagged.

Sheesh, do you think your comment about Stupid trumpers, should be flagged?

I'm sure you meant it as a compliment, given how similar your views and Arcy's are. I'm taking it that way.

My community is doing a full trick or treat as usual, but the surrounding communities are not, thus the mayor expects a huge influx of neighboring kids. The health department is advising home owners to neither hand kids treats nor allow kids to choose their own treats, but rather we should bag a treat or two and set the bags on tables ten feet apart at the ends of our.driveways.

Much as i hate the idea, I think we will ignore Trick or treat this year.

I don’t like the idea of flagging any post.

It’s good to be able to see what people think.

Not a compliment Do you agree with every what every Democrat says on here? Hope not. I have a mind of my own.

If students can go to school, if they can play at the play ground, if they can ride their bikes around their neighborhoods they can SAFELY go trick or treating. Bagging treats and putting them at the end of the driveway adds another layer of contact which some are concerned about. That is illogical!! If you FEAR the virus, cannot wrap your mind around the SCIENCE, if you think it is going to jump out of a kid through their covid mask through their costume onto you has you toss a piece of candy in their outstretched arms into their bag then LOCK YOUR DOOR AND TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS. It's as easy as that. FEAR rules you--I get that so just live it and leave the kids who will be safe and the people who will give out candy safely to their fun. The advise is both masked, 3-6ft away, not longer than 10 minutes.

Oh my god. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.

Why persist, Arcy? You aren't changing minds, you know.

Darn. There went that.

Huhh? "Bagging treats and putting them at the end of the driveway adds another layer of contact which some are concerned about."

How do you figure? It's obviously meant to eliminate all contact! Have a good day, Arcy. Don't catch the Covid

She won't catch it, because she's not afraid of it. Isn't that how it works?

I was surprised someone actually "liked" the comments!