Unless the community as a whole makes a clear Halloween plan, apartment trick-or-treating can be a mess.
Should you knock on doors? How do you let people know you have candy? How do you let people know you don’t?
Tips for planning apartment trick-or-treating
Fortunately, planning for apartment trick-or-treating can solve all of this confusion. Get started by following these simple tips when organizing a Halloween celebration at your apartment community.
1. Form a planning committee
Don’t feel like you need to take on the event planning on your own. Put up a flyer in your apartment lobby or send out a community email to ask for help. Set up a meeting to divide up the tasks. Assign someone to make and distribute invitations, gather materials to decorate your apartment building and organize small groups to trick-or-treat together.
You’ll also want to discuss things like timing. It’s usually best to use your city’s trick-or-treat time to avoid confusion among residents.
2. Ask for RSVPs
It’s a whole lot easier to plan an event when you know how many people are going to participate. Send an invitation to each family in your building and ask them to RSVP with the number of people participating and the age of each child.
Also, ask them to let you know if they have specific friends that they want to include. Then, have a member of the planning committee use this information to form groups.
3. Create a spooky atmosphere
Your apartment can get into the spirit of the holiday by coming up with a consistent theme across the building for Halloween decorations. For example, you could decorate the whole building with skeletons or pumpkins. Alternatively, each floor can choose its own theme.
Even if you don’t organize a particular decoration scheme throughout the floors, it’s best to only have one source of music per floor. Have each floor pick one person to play music so you don’t have conflicting tunes cutting across each other. If a local radio station plays Halloween music, however, it would be perfectly fine (and likely a cool effect) to have multiple people on the floor tuned in.
This will give the kids an extra bit of fun, since, in addition to candy, they’ll get to explore the different levels. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. There are tons of creative DIY Halloween projects to liven up your apartment building.
4. Engage the kids in planning
Involve the kids in holiday decorating. They are very creative and make the Halloween season lots of fun. Before Halloween night, set up a time and space for kids to carve a pumpkin and make their own trick-or-treat bags.
If you’re new to your apartment, a trick-or-treat gathering can help make kids feel more at home and help you all to make new friends.
5. Communicate and keep it safe
Be sure to come up with a clear way for residents to communicate that they’ve opted out of handing out candy. For example, you can have people who want to hand out candy tie a ribbon to their doorknobs, so trick-or-treaters know they’re welcome to knock.
Whatever the sign, make sure that it’s clearly communicated to the whole building.
Trick-or-treating during coronavirus
Given the nature of the virus, it’s important to consider certain safety measures this year. Here are some tips for celebrating Halloween during the coronavirus.
- Check state, county, local and even neighborhood regulations: The rates of coronavirus have varied across the country, and certain areas are at a higher risk. Some areas may have strict rules and regulations prohibiting trick-or-treating this year. Be aware of the rates and rules in your area to determine whether or not to go door-to-door.
- Trick-or-treat in shifts: If your kids are trick-or-treating inside your apartment building, it’s best to arrange to sign up for designated times and assigned floors. This will help to social distance in the hallways.
- Stick with your family: This year, it will be safest to trick-or-treat with your immediate family rather than a large group of friends. You can still enjoy the holiday and wearing a fun costume. If you’d like to share the fun with a larger group, set up a Zoom party.
- Go outside: If you live in a warm enough climate, plan an outdoor patio Halloween party where everyone can spread out and stay six feet apart. Decorate tables and host a costume parade and contest. You can even hand out individual bags of candy to minimize contact.
- Wear a mask: While wearing a mask is an important precaution to preventing the spread of the coronavirus, it can also easily become a part of your costume. Make sure your mask is comfortable and fits properly. Be sure to remind kids to keep their masks on and wait ’til they get home to eat candy.
Enjoy trick-or-treating at your apartment
Halloween is a fun holiday to express yourself and spend time with the whole family. Planning an apartment trick-or-treating gathering is a great way to get to know your neighbors. Be creative and enjoy the fall season.
