Halloween, a beloved holiday by people all around the world, from trick or treating, to fun costumes, spooky movie nights, and haunted houses. Big gatherings make the Halloween spirit a lot more enjoyable, except the screams of people are from a different cause this year… Big costume parties, group trick or treating, and haunted houses have sadly been on pause this year due to the COVID 19 outbreak. Despite the letdowns, many students found their way around to celebrate an enjoyable Halloween, and are eager to share the differences they noticed about this year’s Halloween.

Nightmare at Beaver Lake is a beloved haunted house by families and students in the community. It is a staple to many student’s Halloween celebrations. Unfortunately due to the pandemic, it has been postponed to 2021. Students like Sophie Heeter would go with a group of friends on Halloween night. This year, Heeter spent the day carving out spooky designs on pumpkins and watching “Breaking Bad”.

“I usually go trick or treating too, but we couldn’t even give out candy this year to minimize CVOID transmissions, breaking bad was hot though,” Heeter said. She noticed a decrease in trick or treating activities in her community as the streets were left dark and empty this year. 

Aurora Mizoe, a senior at Skyline, also noticed this trend in her neighborhood as well. She was surprised at her stop to Costco during Hallo-weekend when there weren’t any Halloween costumes or decorations for sale; furthermore, her neighbors that were usually stocked up on Halloween with skeletons and lights around their house had their lights dimmed this year. She kept her Halloween lowkey, having a “Harry Potter” themed sleepover with costumes, baking a cake, and a “Harry Potter “marathon.

On the other hand, some may argue that the Coronavirus has pushed a strong Halloween spirit since people are stuck at home all day. Connie Huang, a junior at Skyline, noticed a big surge of Halloween spirit in her neighborhood after they announced a Halloween decorating contest with a prize of a 50 dollar gift card.

“The decorations this year were definitely to an extreme and way better than last year, because of the incentive,” Huang said. 

In her neighborhood, they also held a trick or treating event where they assembled tables of candies for kids to trick or treat safely. In the organization, she volunteers at, Halloween contests with a sustainability theme making things out of trash and candy wrappers to reduce waste at the end of the holiday. 

Kelsey Chen, a junior at Skyline, also agreed that overall Halloween had a positive outcome. She said it was exciting because there was a full blue moon on the night of Halloween, which was especially rare and fitting for the holiday.

“I think since everyone has been in quarantine, people have more time to decorate their houses for Halloween, I would say Halloween decor sales went up, however, I do think little kids might be affected because there’s not a lot of houses that offer trick or treating,” Chen said. 

Chen, who usually goes trick or treating with her friends on Halloween, decided to dress up in costumes and cosplay and end the night with baking and watching the Adams family. 

Though Halloween had its fair share of setbacks, it was still possible to keep its spooky fashion enclosed and safe. CDC also provided many alternative Halloween celebrations. From pumpkin carvings, fun movie nights, costuming up for the gram, and decorating houses, Halloween 2020 was no doubt a positive escape for this hectic year.