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Post by Peanut on Oct 16, 2020 8:10:28 GMT -5
Trick or Treating this year: Yay or Nay?
What's going on in YOUR neighborhood?
My neighborhood's general guidelines (from a HOA email):
We are torn. While we don't go "all out" for the holiday, traditionally we do decorate quite a bit, and dress up to hand out treats. Our neighborhood is fairly rural, so we don't get too many outsiders coming in. Years past in other places, we have had hundreds of kids. Here, we m-a-y see all of 30 this year.
"Make sure all children are wearing masks..." "Premade BAGS of candy"?
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Post by GiftOfFlavor on Oct 16, 2020 9:26:05 GMT -5
I have a long-ish sidewalk up to my porch. I’ll throw candy off the porch to keep social distance. I don’t usually dress up but I always give out candy and toothbrushes and usually the little airplane liquor bottles of schnapps to the parents...
No one is getting Covid from a candy wrapper. That’s not how this works. If parents are really worried they can let the candy sit outside a couple days or whatever.
Those rules are stupid. What’s the difference between sitting at a table and having the kid pick up their bag or having them pick it up off the porch? Why premade? What’s the point of that?
Again - security theater. Making a stupid rule that makes no sense so they can say they made a rule.
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Post by Sprockey on Oct 16, 2020 9:45:47 GMT -5
My town is allowing it.
While it's possible to get the virus via objects/ surfaces I don't think the probability is high. I think the risky part is having lots of people going out in groups and coming to your door.
I will give out candy from a distance. Most likely will sit outside on my porch and line up 5 bars (I do full size) at a time on a stool so kids can grab one. No digging in bowls or door knocking.
In a normal year we don't get many more than 25 kids. So this will be manageable, I think.
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PB&J
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Posts: 288
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Post by PB&J on Oct 16, 2020 9:52:29 GMT -5
We are going to sit outside and put a table in our driveway with treat bags full of candy for kids to come by and get. We usually have a LOT of trick or treaters. Last year was the first time since we've lived here (14 years) that we didn't run out of candy but it was raining so we didn't have as many.
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Post by maurinsky on Oct 16, 2020 11:57:54 GMT -5
The recommendation seems to be for treat bags placed in containers by those giving out the candy.
We usually have a lot of ToTrs - easy to walk neighborhood, lots of kids in the neighborhood.
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Post by villanelle on Oct 16, 2020 12:17:06 GMT -5
I don't understand those rules. Unless they are suggesting you leave the table unattended, how is this in anyway--much less any meaningful way--decreasing potential spreading situations? I guess a kid is only touching their bag, as opposed to reaching into a bowl, but if that's a difference it's not an especially meaningful one. If they are in a huge gaggle, crowded around the table or waiting their turn to snag a bag, that seems like the problem.
To me, the issue that causes potential danger is the crowds. In some places we've lived, the streets were basically just teeming masses of kids. That would be a bad idea from a Covid perspective. If you live in a place that doesn't have that sort of crowding, this seems like a very low risk activity, especially if everyone is masked. (The guidelines say to make sur children are wearing masks while collecting candy. Do they expect you to sit, distanced from your table, and yell across to that vampire that he can't have a candy bag until he puts on a masks?)
Last year we had zero ToTers, likely because we are a few blocks from a major parade so everyone just goes there. So this year, we are leaving the light off and doing nothing.
ToT seemed to be falling out of favor even before Covid. When I was a kid, everyone did it. It was really the only thing to do. Now, my impression is that many kids go to malls or churches or other gatherings instead of going door to door.
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Post by Mamapalooza on Oct 16, 2020 14:49:39 GMT -5
Meh, probably not. DH doesn't want Roxy to go out, and I couldn't care less. She doesn't eat the candy anyway, she just likes to dress up and see the decorations, so this weekend we'll hit the dollar store for some cheap Halloween decor, and then the night of we'll maybe do like an Easter egg hunt around the house with a few chocolates while she's dressed up. She's pretty easy to please as long as she knows the plan ahead of time.
I only get a handful of kids usually so I wouldn't be surprised to see none this year.
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stl
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Posts: 633
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Post by stl on Oct 16, 2020 15:04:48 GMT -5
My kids are way past ToT age but I'll buy some candy to hand out and wear a mask at the door. I think if parents are worried about social distancing it's easy enough to stop at the end of a driveway and wait until the current group of kids has left before the next group goes to the door. If I had younger kids and was worried about COVID being on the candy wrappers I'd buy a bag of candy and stash it away, then put the ToT candy in the garage to air out for a few days and let the kids eat what I'd bought in the meantime.
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Post by Inky on Oct 16, 2020 15:55:59 GMT -5
Our township hasn't said anything about TorT yay or nay. I bought enough treats, and I think (hopefully it's not wet and bitterly cold) DH & I are going to put our propane campfire on the front porch, and sit out there. There is a long ledge there, and I thought I could put the treats along the ledge. I don't dare put the whole bowl out, some little s**t would take them all. I've never been a huge Halloween fan anyway. I grab the ceramic pumpkin every year, stick a candle in it halloween night and call it decorating.
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Post by nansel on Oct 16, 2020 16:01:32 GMT -5
On my neighbourhood Facebook page, people were discussing this. Looks like a fair number of people are going to hand out candy. We have a good neighbourhood for it - houses close together, streets in a grid pattern. Dh and I haven't decided yet if we're going to.
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Post by Pandora on Oct 16, 2020 18:05:33 GMT -5
On the one hand I don't personally understand how trick-or-treating is a high risk activity. On the other hand the CDC says it is for some reason and I don't trust my own judgment. It's a little bit easier from the point of enforcing consistency with my kids to just skip it. No, "Well, if we could do this, why can't we do that?" type stuff. Also, my kids miss their friends and socializing, but they get lots and lots of peer interaction so their suffering isn't as great during this time as kids with fewer people at home. If I had just a couple of kids and felt like they were having a hard time I'd probably decide it was worth it. However, I have to laugh at the premade bags of candy. I'm all for people putting that much time in, but it's not how I operate at this stage. I usually put a piece or two in each bag until closer to the end of the night and if there is still lots left I start doing handfuls. I wouldn't be making candy bags, so we'd have to figure out something else if we were doing it this year.
I've been secretly stockpiling candy and I'm planning on hiding it all over the house. Not like super hidden, but it will pretty much be everywhere. So when they open the silverware drawer in the morning there will be candy in there. Game cabinet, same thing. I might leave out some bags on the couch in case they get the idea and decide to go hunting (they get up before me, lol). We are going to have a Harry Potter marathon. I will probably order pizza. We'll have cider or hot chocolate or something. That's about it.
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Post by shaena on Oct 16, 2020 19:26:31 GMT -5
No restrictions. Its rare that I am usually home to pass out candy though.
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Post by alicechalmers on Oct 16, 2020 19:46:12 GMT -5
Since T or T ing is a low risk activity, I wish it would be encouraged. I will certainly be handing out gobs of candy to anyone who shows up.
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Post by jen on Oct 16, 2020 19:59:27 GMT -5
I’m going to put some candy in a bowl and smile through our glass storm door. I haven’t given out candy in years. 2020 sucks. Easy way to spread some fun.
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Post by mmeblue on Oct 16, 2020 20:04:24 GMT -5
Our neighborhood hasn't issued guidelines (that's not a thing that's generally done here). The things that concern me about ToTing: groups of kids from different households all smushed together, and adults hovering close while letting kids choose which candy they want - never a quick process. Add "unmasked" to both the kids and the adults, and my concern increases. If we lived somewhere else, I might feel confident that adults would be reasonably cautious and would direct their kids to do the same. But where I live, there are a lot of people on the "it's a hoax" bench. I just find it too easy to believe that they will not be cautious. (ToTing would probably be difficult for my likely-ASD kid this year, too, because of his rigid thinking when it comes to the precautions we're taking. We had one instance with someone bumping into him accidentally, and I am not eager to repeat it.) I picked up a bunch of glow bracelets. We'll turn out all the lights and let the kids wear those and run around like crazy people. We will get little pumpkins for them to paint. And I'll have candy and might come up with some fun way to distribute it. They have costumes from previous years that they can wear if they want to. They'll have fun without ToTing.
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Post by coachgrrl on Oct 16, 2020 22:28:39 GMT -5
No guidelines here ( that I’m aware of ) We don’t get a lot of trick or treaters, so I may just turn off the lights
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Post by Truffles on Oct 16, 2020 23:59:54 GMT -5
We get a decent amount, about 75-100, so I stressed about it this year. Two things worried me: our house layout and the social distancing. There isn’t any way of social distancing the way our house is laid out. Plus, we rebuilt the front porch this year but we haven’t installed railings yet. I just know some kid will fall off.
I have a covered carport that I’m going to sit under. I’ll take out a heater and my floor lamp, and I’ll crochet between kids. I’m going to use DH’s long barbecue tongs to hand out the treats so the kids keep their distance.
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emmjay
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Post by emmjay on Oct 17, 2020 4:04:59 GMT -5
We only had one or two kids last year so I don’t think it will be an issue. Not sure what my parents will do. They live in one of those neighbourhoods where people drive in from all over the place just for the trick-or-treating.
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Post by Peanut on Oct 18, 2020 15:10:06 GMT -5
Not sure what my parents will do. They live in one of those neighbourhoods where people drive in from all over the place just for the trick-or-treating. My old neighborhood used to be that neighborhood. Our current one is mostly older folks (could explain the guidelines, lol!) with young adult or fully adult kids.
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Post by Inky on Oct 18, 2020 19:16:47 GMT -5
We get a decent amount, about 75-100, so I stressed about it this year. Two things worried me: our house layout and the social distancing. There isn’t any way of social distancing the way our house is laid out. Plus, we rebuilt the front porch this year but we haven’t installed railings yet. I just know some kid will fall off. I have a covered carport that I’m going to sit under. I’ll take out a heater and my floor lamp, and I’ll crochet between kids. I’m going to use DH’s long barbecue tongs to hand out the treats so the kids keep their distance. You could try buying some of that scary "caution tape" and put it up around the porch. We did that one year when we didn't want kids cutting across the porch and jumping off the other end.
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