October is a month of Fall, enjoying harvests, pumpkins and for children, teens and adults, planning for Halloween. What’s on your social calendar for a spooktacular evening? and do you have safe Halloween plans for indoors or outdoors?

The virus Covid-19 floating around may have a few wondering how to enjoy this annual event. Who doesn’t enjoy seeing the varied and many different costumes our children wear for this special night?

It seems almost like an annual Halloween fashion show and as parents we enjoy those smiles and expressions of joy and fun plus curiosity of experiencing a change of perspective of their world literally without the light except artificial lights.

Personal safety and Indoor Halloween

We have to first keep ourselves, child, teen and adults alike, safe from this virus. We have recommendations of wear masks, social distancing and stay inside if not feeling well. This can bring feelings of loneliness, left out and left behind. Remember, this is only one year and Halloween will return again next year. It’s not the end and shhh! Christmas comes after Halloween too.

Parents can have a back-up plan for

Act One could start with a ‘mini monster mash‘ dance in a decorated spooky living room, basement or garage. Have a playlist of Halloween songs and have your dance for an hour or more.

Place bowls of candy treats around the room, and drinkables. Maybe invite family members to join the indoor Halloween ‘festivities‘. It could be the start of a whole new family ‘tradition‘.

Have a little candy pot your child can carry along to fill up too.

Act two, include a movie projector and see the movie in a huge size, on the wall.

Find out ahead of time what Halloween movies your child enjoys, or may enjoy. Ask family, friends or neighbors for ideas too.

Act three, dad may have to carry the little one to bed before midnight. Parents can do a high elbow tap, a last dance and enjoy their success while on clean-up duty.

Halloween Mask Tips

Canadian health professionals have recommended that masks be worn under Halloween masks. I’d add some practical advice too since I’m a parent and understand the excitement of Halloween with children. Last thing we want to do is commit the crime of ‘ruining‘ the fun of Halloween.

Here are a few ideas that keeps covering the face to a minimum. I don’t think it would be comfortable wearing a full Halloween face mask atop the medical mask, right? Next to wondering, is there enough air to get through for breathing?

I would suggest that children wear a half mask. Those ones that cover the eyes or even just wear a face painted mask around the eyes along with the medical mask.

• Can you cut that full face mask to half size? Just cut in a somewhat Vee shape. Keep the nostrils open but nose is covered.
• Secondly, see if you can enlarge the bottom eye area so your child won’t trip on uneven ground as it gets dark outside. If necessary use black face paint under the eyes so the enlarged eye area doesn’t seem so out-of-place.
• There are websites that offer FREE mask printables such as The Spruce Crafts and others. Do an online search and check them out.
• Face paint is another costume idea. This will require some personal design work on your part but again, check online at Youtube or other sites. Pick something that’s interesting but not going to take hours to apply. Not all children have patience to sit quietly for long periods of time, and that’s perfectly normal.

Outdoor Temperatures

Today’s weather is unpredictable especially with climate change literally changing our weather patterns. Check the weather channel ahead of time, right up to 15 minutes before heading out.

Keeping your child warm while running along in chilly weather may help in prevention of getting a cold. I’d recommend that you dress your child in layers. Make it easy to remove a layer of clothing if your child starts overheating. What kind of clothing layers? We can start with the following;

• an undershirt and longjohns, or use a tank top or tee shirt, and pajama pants under their main clothes.Remember, they will be wearing a costume atop their clothes.
• A lined vest whether it’s fleece, wool, polyester or feather filled.
• A wind breaker since these help stop the wind from lowering one’s body temperature.
• A winter jacket if the temperature is going to drop significantly.
• A hat to further help keep body heat loss to a minimum.
• Gloves, again, another layer for added warmth.

All these layers of outer clothing is easy to put on, or remove. It will require you to carry a tote bag, or back pack for the event of parental supervision during this annual event. Again, it’s all about keeping the health and safety of your child a top priority during this outing.

Yard Candy Trail

One idea that may help with maintaining that ‘social distancing‘ could be designing a ‘trail‘ through your front yard. This will require the following;

• Use lights attached to stakes to outline a path that’s set in semi-circle shape.

• Decorate the yard with friendly Halloween decorations and maybe a few spooky ones too hanging around.

• Add some spooky music, squeaky doors, maniacal laughing, footsteps, howling, sounds or friendly Halloween songs (i.e.,Monster Mash)

• Set up tables with pots of candy labelled with silly names, newt thighs, batwing skin, etc.

Supervise visiting children to ensure they get to pick from every pot and keep their distance from each other, and you.

Oh! make sure you’re wearing a costume too. Dress for the weather. Keep a thick shawl/cape nearby for warmth. Enjoy the parade of costumes, and keep a thermos of hot chocolate or tea nearby.

Examine the Candy Loot

I believe some Boomer parents can remember those years when their own parents, sat at the table and examined candy spilled out on the table. Some may have wondered why and others may have known. It was a time when it was discovered that certain types of candy were hiding items that caused injuries to the child.

I can remember that homemade candy items were removed. This due to news reports of food poisoning, sharp items, or allergies. Any treat that was homemade or suspiciously ‘open‘ were immediately removed.

Who would do such a thing to children? I don’t think anybody was ever caught but the fact remains, Halloween treats were being used to hide items that could seriously hurt children.It takes a certain level of malice to want to hurt children.

Parents should always check the candies that their child(ren) have brought home. Let your neighbors who do make handmade sweets drop them off directly to your home rather than it arriving anonymously.

Halloween is a yearly fun event for children, teens and adults. Small and young children should be accompanied by a parent or elder siblings. This duty to prevent bullying and candy theft from other children or youths but also child abductions. Extreme thought? As a parent, safety should always be a priority.

Let’s keep Halloween a fun and safe activity for all our children, and remember, don’t eat too much candy. Enjoy your safe Halloween!

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Article(C)2021 An Informal Cornr, all rights reserved. Ginsense writes articles on business, health, science, technology, society and enjoys advocating for independence, security and a better world for all of us