Trick Or Treat 2020?

It’s time to decorate the front door, the porch, the yard and to buy candy for all the Trick or Treaters.

But I don’t see many decorations yet this year. Did I hear that California wants to ban trick or treating and costume parties? Did the CDC give any new guidelines? Have churches come out in favor or against All Hallows Eve? Have the arbiters of political correctness issued the list of approved and disapproved costumes and activities?

Can I put plastic tombstones with crosses in my yard? How about a cackling witch by my front door? Can the kids wear a devil costume, a mummy costume, a Snow White costume?

Is giving out candy even a good thing? Unhealthy, contributing to obesity. Candy with peanuts might kill somebody?

How do we even give out the candy (or maybe vegetables, Ha!) when kids come to the door? Do we all wear masks under our masks? How do we maintain social distance? How do we disinfect our doorbell or door handle between each group of Trick or Treaters, or between each Trick or Treater in a group?

Some neighborhoods usually have community parties or Trick or Trunk events in lieu of door to door Trick or Treating. How can they handle all those same issues?

My neighborhood is known as a good source of candy so we often have carloads of kids from other neighborhoods (maybe even other cities!) dropped off to collect their unfair share. Carloads of kids (they can’t all be related) are hotbeds of virus transmission.

And all the kids, local or not, who knock on many doors, meeting many generous homeowners, go back to their own homes after close contact with homeowners and each other, with bags full of unsanitized candies.

As a little old lady, I wonder how to protect myself from the close contact, from the grasping hands, from the contaminated trash they might leave behind.

There seems to be no safe reason to allow usual Trick or Treating in 2020. How sad. Boo!