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| Pumpkin by Built by Kids |
You have a big decision coming up in just two weeks. You have to focus on the right thing to do….. No, I’m not talking about the election. If you haven't decided by now how you will vote, at least for the top of the ticket, I can't help you. Anyway, you don't have to wait two weeks and 3 days on that decision. I hope you have voted already or plan to do so soon. No reason to stand in a line on election day.
No, I’m talking about something with a more complicated moral matrix: Halloween Trick-or-Treating. Should you or shouldn't you? Can it be done safely? Will any other kids be out there? If you decide to stay in, can your kids still have a fun Halloween?
I don’t pretend to have all the answers.
But assuming that the CDC hasn’t been overrun by political appointees with a nefarious, anti-science agenda, here’s what the doctors and scientists advise:
It's a yes on trick-or-treating, provided you follow the safety protocols they lay out on this website:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/halloween.html
The main thing is to deliver the candy to the kids in a contact free way. Time to get creative!
You can make a candy chute or slide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur5ytT15Ekw
How about shooting the candy up into the air and letting it rain down on the kids in a sugar storm? You can make this candy cannon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgZhQJQnnqA (Just be sure to choose small, light candies....or else make the kids wear helmets.)
Want to avoid anything that involves ballistics? Try a zipline instead:
https://interestingengineering.com/video/zipline-ghost-serves-trick-or-treaters-while-social-distancing
For about a dozen other candy-delivery modes and trick-or-treat alternatives, including a remote control candy car, or a candy scavenger hunt at home, go to Eater DC: https://www.eater.com/2020/10/15/21498929/halloween-trick-or-treat-covid-19-coronavirus-alternatives
If this strikes you as too much work, too much pressure to revamp the holiday to fit these scary times, then maybe just relax and have a quiet little Halloween at home with just your own family....or maybe invite just one other family into your home. And what better family for this occasion than The Addams Family! You can all sing along -- and snap along -- with them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ5IWRz78DY
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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