Is Your Home Trick or Treat Ready for a Covid-Safe Halloween 2021?

Have you prepared your home for a Covid-safe Halloween 2021? While Covid-19 restrictions in Melbourne have changed since last year, we are still living through times of social distancing, face coverings, and gathering limits. Now, with the spooky season upon us, we need to get creative about approaching Halloween in the safest way possible.

It’s true that trick or treating will look different this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sill make Halloween a fun experience. As small gatherings of groups are allowed outdoors, we can still expect to see little witches, ghosts, princesses, and cowboys come knocking for their treats (or tricks!). With a few changes to how you manage visitors, you can make your home trick-or-treat ready for a Covid-safe Halloween.

#1 Leave treats outside your front door for trick-or-treaters to take

To keep up with social distancing regulations, a good idea for this year is to leave treats for children to come and take for themselves. Rather than a communal bowl for everyone to reach into, you might think about parcelling up treat bags individually. Even better if you leave out a bottle of hand sanitiser to encourage your spooky visitors to avoid spreading germs. If your home has a security door, you can easily keep an eye out for trick or treaters and wish them a happy Halloween without ever needing to open the door – a perfect way to get into the spirit of the season while still maintaining social distancing.

#2 Host a neighbourhood drive-by trick-or-treat

This is a reverse trick or treating experience. Get your neighbourhood together in spirit by organising a trick-or-treat drive-by! Talk to your neighbours about scheduling a parade of cars to drive up and down your streets, gently tossing treats to dressed up children in their front yards. This way, the kids still enjoy collecting lollies and chocolates without ever needing to leave their homes.

When the coronavirus pandemic ends, you and your kids can get back to normal trick-or-treating. Until then, you can all get excited about trying out new traditions – you may even find that some of them stick around for next year!

#3 Leaving older children at home on Halloween

If you have children in different age groups, you may find your older children want to stay home while you take the younger ones out trick-or-treating. It’s a good idea to make sure your older children know when to answer the door and how to go about it safely.

Some tips you can teach your older children about safely answering the front door are:

• Don’t ignore a knock at the door. Even if you simply shout out where to find the Halloween goodies, you never know if the knocker is looking for treats or looking for signs of an empty house. With all the foot traffic we expect to see on Halloween, you might not notice if someone is casing your home to break in. While it might be your first instinct to tell your kids not to answer the door, they might be putting themselves in more danger by giving an intruder the impression that nobody is home. If a burglar thinks a house is empty, it could encourage them to attempt to break in.
• If you have Security doors, tell your child to keep them closed and locked and answer the door without opening the security door.
• Take a peek first. Whether through a window, a peephole or a security camera, encourage your children to look first rather than blindly opening the door.
• Don’t let a visitor know that they’re home alone. Children should always be taught never to say that they’re home alone. If the doorbell rings and children carry out a conversation through a closed or security door, they should be prepared to say, “My mum/dad is on the phone, so can you come back later?”.

The fact is, you expect to have plenty of people ringing your doorbell or knocking on your door on Halloween night, so an older child home alone might be less on their guard. Having a quality security door is a great way to enable children to answer the front door without exposing them to a potentially dangerous interaction with an intruder. Ask our team for the best quotes for Security Door Melbourne.

#4 How to safely take your kids out trick or treating

If your family chooses to trick-or-treat during COVID-19, plan to be safe.

• Approaching houses. We hope that your neighbours choose to be Covid-safe when participating in the Halloween festivities. Generally speaking, if a home has put up Halloween decorations, you can assume they have treats ready for little visitors. Just be sure to tell your children to keep a safe distance from others and not take treats from anyone directly.
• Wear a mask (not just the costume kind). Melbourne Covid-safe guidelines still state that mask-wearing outdoors is mandatory for anyone over the age of 12. Keep in mind that this does not include costume masks, which are ineffective at stopping the spread of germs. You might plan by decorating a fitted mask in Halloween style.
• Limit the group size. Keep your child’s trick-or-treating group to just siblings or a close friend.
• Limit the houses you visit. This year is not the year to go all out. Instead, choose a small number of houses to visit or keep visits to the homes of family and friends.
• Social distance. Keep your group away from other trick-or-treaters.
• Practice good hygiene. Bring along a bottle of hand sanitiser to use between houses and be sure to have your children do the same.
• Stay home if you feel sick. If you feel unwell or if any of your family members think they could have been exposed to Covid-19, please don’t risk spreading the virus. There are other ways to enjoy Halloween without ever needing to leave your home.
  

  

  Have you considered alternatives?

  There are many safe, creative ways to make Halloween a fun day this year, even without trick-or-treating.

  • Decorate your home. Get your children crafting spooky decorations to keep their minds off getting out and about. Think paper chains in orange and black, paper silhouettes for the windows, and pumpkins cut from cardboard.
  • Put on a Halloween performance. Everyone already has a costume, after all! You could get the whole family involved in writing a script, arranging a set, and picking out some music. Then you could film it to send to friends and family.
  • Make Halloween treats. You can spend your evening baking, decorating, and eating your treats. You could even do it all in costume! Jump on Pinterest to find cookie and cupcake Halloween creations.
  • Host an online costume party. Get your kids’ friends together virtually to have a costume party! You could play games, hold a dance contest and tell spooky stories.

  Keeping your distance doesn’t have to mean the end of Halloween fun. Making a few changes to your celebrations this year means you and your children can still enjoy all the fun of dressing up and trick-or-treating without fear of spreading Covid-19 to your neighbors. Just be sure to keep a safe space from others, sanitize your hands regularly, and only interact with trick-or-treaters through your security door to keep a safe distance. If you’re looking to enhance your home protection or ready your home for a Covid-safe Halloween and busy festive period by installing a security door, and Property Conveyancing Brisbane get in touch with Jim’s Security Door to arrange a free consultation, measure and quote.