ROANOKE, Va – The Centers for Disease Control released new guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on Halloween.
The CDC said many traditional Halloween activities can be high risk, including traditional trick-or-treating, large crowds for costume contests and indoor haunted houses.
Some parents in Roanoke, like Erika Jones, are teaming up to come up with creative ways to help young kids and their parents safely celebrate the spooky holiday.
“We’ve all just kind of been brainstorming how we can still have fun with the whole holiday season. I’m sure Thanksgiving is going to look different. Christmas is going to look different,” Jones said.
The group is planning on delivering treats to parents and kids safely to celebrate Halloween.
Low-risk activities include virtual costume contests and pumpkin carving at home. Some other low-risk Halloween activities include a fun experiment that can be done at home.
So the Kidsquare Museum in Roanoke stepped in.
“For those families that are really concerned about being out or they have high-risk children or they just simply aren’t ready we thought these were a great solution to bring Halloween into their home,” Executive Director of Kidsquare Felicia Branham said.
The museum will be selling at home Halloween experiment bags filled with fun, interactive learning kits.
“Kids can actually do science experiments and things like that but also learn and have fun during this season,” said Branham.
Parents said the most important thing when it comes to celebrating Halloween is making sure everyone can stay safe.
“Instead of accepting that everything has been canceled, trying to take matters into our own hands and figure out how we can safely still get together in small groups and celebrate things,” Jones said.
Kidsquare will be selling the Halloween kits throughout the month of October. There is also an option to donate kits to a teacher for their students.