Five spook-tacular trick-or-treating alternatives for 2020

Conor Bartol, Right Behind You
October 8, 2020

  1.     The Candy-Pult

If Trick-or-Treaters can’t come to you, go to them! Create your own tiny catapult with some craft supplies, and pummel the neighborhood children with candy. Their treat is your trick. Make a game of it; one point for every kid you hit.

  1.     Perform a Zoom Séance

An online séance is the perfect spookily-distanced Halloween activity. Enjoy the thrills of a normal séance: creepy incantations, spooky lighting and a giddy atmosphere, with the additional joy of figuring out why your camera is off, trying to hear everyone over someone’s washing machine and accidentally leaving someone in the lobby. Maybe you will summon a ghost to join the call before kicking them off because you think they are a Zoom-bomber.

Illustration by Anika Vucicevic.
  1.     Go to Bed at a Reasonable Hour

Why stay up watching the same old horror films when you can find original terrors in your nightmares? What wonderful scares the mind can concoct! Additionally, with 2020 being the year it is, you will surely wake up to a frightening new world. What horror movie could compete with that?

  1.     Most Convincing Costume

You’ll need a hazmat costume and a friend who can forge documents. Make some EPA “badges” and “official” orders, put on your hazmat suits and march into the nearest supermarket. Say that you’re confiscating their candy because of contaminants. Use a made-up hazardous chemical like zyrteprofin, sudaxanium or another combination of over-the-counter drug names. Then walk out with a shopping cart full of free candy!

While readers may say this is a surefire way to be arrested for theft, don’t worry. You’ll be in much bigger trouble for impersonating a government official.

  1.     Open the Hellmouth

Spice up Halloween by opening the door to the demonic dimension! Say the ancient rites, make a sacrifice and pledge your fealty to the Nightmare King and his hordes for a once in a lifetime experience. You and your friends will have a wonderful time being the servants of darkness in the new world to come. However, 10,000 years is a long time; so, if you’re not sure, maybe wait until 2021.