Safe Ways to Celebrate Halloween in Maryland During the Pandemic
How Will Your Family Celebrate Halloween This Year?
On doorsteps sit large orange pumpkins. Porches are draped with white fuzzy spider webs and plastic skeletons dangle from trees. Halloween is almost here. In Maryland, Virginia, and the Washington D.C. area local officials are asking that children not go trick or treating due to safely concerns about the Novel Coronavirus. But there are still many low-risk ways to have fun with children and friends. Safe ways to celebrate Halloween and enjoy autumn as October 3lst, 2020 approaches.
Low-risk Halloween Activities
Get ready for Halloween by carving those pumpkins. Toast the pumpkin seeds for a tasty snack. Perhaps add more decorations to the outside of your house by hanging banners, lights or creating a make believe graveyard.
Create an outside scavenger hunt. Give your children a list of Halloween themed items to look for while they walk around the neighborhood (socially distanced from non-family members). Hide some glow-in-the-dark items outside for your children to find.
Halloween movie night with family and special snacks is another way to celebrate the holiday. Before the movie starts, visit friends or family who live far away virtually by video to show off your costumes.
Moderate-risk Halloween Activities
If you want to still offer candy to neighborhood children, consider setting up a table at the end of your yard for a goody bag exchange- one at a time. Use a long table and set it up perpendicular to the sidewalk to create more distance between you and your visitors.
Organize a costume parade outside. Everyone must stand at least six feet apart. Masks worn should be the same quality type of double layer mask used to protect children and adults from exposure to the virus. Both nose and mouth need to be covered. DO NOT COMBINE costume masks and virus masks together as this might make it hard to breath, particularly for a child.
Having fun with the parade idea, carry helium balloons, play instruments. Do not sing or chant as this would spread the virus if present.
If proper social distancing is observed, visits to pumpkin patches, orchards, or an outside haunted forest are other ways to have Halloween Fun. But it these are scary places and screaming might occur, try for greater distances such as twelve to twenty feet. Yelling will carry viral particles.
Higher Risk Activities To Avoid
Anywhere there is a crowd, there is danger. Closer contact provides opportunities for the virus to spread.
Neither traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating or trunk-or-treat where treats are handed out from car trunks in large parking lots are safe activities this year. Indoor costume parties, indoor haunted houses and close seating on hayrides or tractors rides should be avoided.
If you are inviting people on to your property, make certain it is well lit. This will help everyone maintain the recommended social distances and prevent accidents. If someone is injured on your property due to your negligence, a liability claim could be in your future.
Liability coverage is included in your homeowner’s insurance. When was the last time you reviewed your coverage? Do you have all the right coverages? At The Crilly Agency, we can give you a complete insurance review at no charge. Give us a call at 410-571-1771 to find out more about insurance and how it can help protect you and your assets. Have a safe and happy Halloween!
