7 Ideas for Planning a Safe Halloween Event During COVID-19
Worried about being safe and smart about yours and your family’s health during this pumpkin season? There are a few ways you can celebrate Halloween together without compromising your health or endangering others attending.
1. Pick an outdoor venue or well-ventilated area
Stick to the outdoors or a space with a lot of fresh air and ventilation.
This is a much better alternative than having people in a stuffy room, where germs can sit in the air without a place to escape.
Try your local park, recreational centers, neighborhoods or look for a venue where you can open windows and allow air flow. If your area’s weather does not allow you to host an outdoor event, find a large building with plenty of room for social distancing.
Look for an indoor venue with large ceilings and an open floor plan.
2. Require protective gear
Face shields, masks, gloves.
Require the proper safety gear for eliminating or minimizing the spread of germs. Masks are a simple solution that everyone has grown accustom to. You can supply the safety gear at your event along with sanitation stations and hand sanitizers.
3. Monitor your event size, capacity and/or gatherings
Check your county/state regulations to see what the regulations are for hosting events and the amount of guests you’re allowed to have. Based on your state’s regulations, you can determine a safe capacity that works with your venue and event.
If the event is open to the community, make sure you have staff at the front gate tracking guests that enter and exit. They can monitor how many guests are attending the event to ensure it doesn’t go over capacity.
4. Pick festive activities that are safe
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Pumpkin carving
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Holiday decorating
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Costume contests
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A candy scavenger hunt
These are just a few examples of activities that can be conducted at a safe distance with the least amount of exchanges as possible. Encourage people not to bring any tools or decorations from home besides their costumes, instead provide everything they need at the event to minimize germs.
If possible, use only throwaway items such as tools for carving pumpkins or give out items they can bring home.
More tips for activities at your holiday event:
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Give out baskets/tote bags for collecting candy to take home
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Use pumpkin carving tools that can be thrown away
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Throwaway food containers and utensils for any food given out (avoid buffet style foods)
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Use throwaway event flyers, brochures, scavenger maps, etc.
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Avoid games that exchange interactions like corn hole, giant Janga, musical chair, etc.
5. Giving out candy
What about the candy? Can we still hand it out?
Candy! The reason we all look forward to walking for miles, going door-to-door and trick-or-treating. Kids want the candy.
If you want to continue this tradition at your event, instead of having kids go to different booths or homes to receive their candy, spread them out with a scavenger hunt. The benefits of a candy scavenger hunt are (a) kids aren’t digging in a shared bowl for candy, and (b) it spreads them out and eliminates the amounts of hands touching each piece of candy.
You can even provide a fun map, give them clues and help them work for their dessert.
6. Host a virtual Halloween party
Go virtual!!
Everyone else is doing it. Take your Halloween experience and allow people to take part online in a virtual space. Host a virtual costume contest, stream scary movies, or pumpkin carving contests all online.
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The Purplepass live streaming feature Sell tickets to your virtual event and
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7. Make it a drive-in event
Make the most of your spooky night with a drive-in movie theater. Play the ultimate Halloween classics and creepy thrillers where people can experience the excitement of the holiday safely from their cars!
And what about drive-through corn mazes or haunted experiences?
Guests can experience the classic haunted maze by driving through an eerie scene or ghostly area. I’m getting chills from just thinking about it! Drive-through events are a safe way to continue the holidays.
