Halloween 2020: 6 Distanced Ideas for a Night That Doesn’t Completely Suck – KQED

Glad you asked. We have six ideas for you that we hope might make Halloween 2020 suck a little less.

The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't mean that all forms of trick or treat are totally off the table this year. On the understanding that some folks will still head out with their kids on Halloween, Bay Area's county health officials have categorized "one-way trick-or-treating where individually wrapped goodie bags are lined up for families to grab and go" as a "moderate risk" activity as long as trick-or-treaters continue to physically distance "such as at the end of a driveway or at the edge of a yard."

Bay Area health officials recommend that distanced trick-or-treaters do the following while kids are out:

Remember, per official guidance, any kind of trick-or-treating this year still holds risk during the pandemic. With that in mind, taking costumed kids on a safe, distanced neighborhood stroll to look at house decorations and enjoy the autumnal chill without collecting any candy might ultimately be the safest, lowest-stress activity a family could plan this Halloween.

As Da de los Muertos occurs a few short days after the Halloween weekend, the official guidance also includes guidelines for how to celebrate safely. Officials encourageyou to honor loved ones who've passed while staying at home, sharing music and memories, preparing family recipes with members of your household and creating an altar for your ancestors within the home.

What if you're staying home and anticipate such distanced trick-or-treaters at your door and don't want to leave them empty-handed? It might be time to get creative with distanced candy delivery.

Phoenix Artifex is a Bay Area educator whose Phoenix's Curiosity Cabinet program teaches young people about science through design and manufacture. Right now they're virtually collaborating with their students to build a grand trick or treat candy catapult one that could launch sweet treats without the need for physical proximity between giver and taker.

Since a catapult probably isn't suitable or safe for the average front yard, Artifex recommends that if you're contemplating building a distanced candy delivery system for your own home, you should think about simpler options: like a slide or a chute. You might consider constructing a rudimentary slide out of cardboard boxes or a pipe made from connected mailing tubes and then work on adjusting the angles for a truly practical candy delivery system," Artifex says.

Whatever you decide to build, Artifex recommends you think about the scale of your project, the kind of distance you're hoping to cover with your design and the "scatter field" your contraption will result in. For safety reasons, bear in mind the force with which you're planning to launch the candy at trick-or-treaters, not to mention the hardness of your candy or goodie bags.

Daly City residents Beau Logo and Kayla Golub are one of those who've built a haunted candy chute outside their home, and shared their method with KQED. It's a length of 4" PVC pipe, selected for its long length. An earlier prototype was made of smaller sections of pipe connected together, but test deployments of candy kept getting stuck in the joints. The black pipe was then covered with orange duct tape, for a suitably "Halloween" look.

Completing Golub and Logo's yard is their graveyard display through which trick-or-treaters can approach, which was inspired by their favorite Halloween movie, "Hocus Pocus." They've also placed markers on the ground 6 feet apart, "in case a line forms," Golub says. The whole thing is a way for the pair to safely continue inviting people to "come have fun and enjoy [Logo's] labor of love, especially during this time when we all need a feeling of normalcy and community connection," she says.

If you're at home facilitating any form ofdistanced candy delivery, Bay Area health officials recommend you:

Sitting down to watch a horror movie on Halloween might sound like kind of an obvious recommendation. But according to Margee Kerr, a sociologist and author of "Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear," it could be a surprisingly great way to reap some physical and psychological benefits

Why? When you choose to watch a horror movie, and commit to around two hours of thrills, jump scares and screams, you've made the decision to "suspend disbelief and enter this kind of fantasy world where you're going to get scared," Kerr says.

That means, she clarifies, all of your regular focus "essentially is re-prioritized away from critical thinking" and your day-to-day reality. You're not thinking about your groceries or your bills (or the pandemic, or the election), and your body is instead going into "fight or flight mode."

The effect on your body is a highly grounding one, Kerr says, and can make movie-watchers feel extra present and focused. What's more, Kerr says, study participants she's worked with have reported "higher mood" after choosing an activity like watching a horror movie that brings them into that fight or flight state.

Among those people, Kerr says their improvement in positive mood was rooted in feeling like they actually challenged their fears and learned about themselves. This feeling of empowerment, control and resilience, Kerr says, might feel especially good right now, in the middle of a pandemic with a contentious election looming.

"I think we could all use an opportunity to feel like 'we can do it.'"

Kerr reminds you that that it's okay not to enjoy certain types of scary movies; 'body horror,' for example, or violent slashers. You might also decide to choose a lighter,comedic horror movie instead for fewer scares or less gore. If you're watching with younger members of your household, you might opt for a more kid-friendly Halloween movie like, say, "Hocus Pocus" or "Coraline" (or "TheNightmare Before Christmas," if you're prepared for the inevitable arguments about whether it's a holiday movie or a Halloween movie.)

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Halloween 2020: 6 Distanced Ideas for a Night That Doesn't Completely Suck - KQED

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero