The past year has been everything a haunted roller coaster provides: high highs, low lows, twists and turns, and a jump scare every five minutes.  People haven’t been able to have social gatherings with family and friends, and the celebrations of all holidays during this time have either been altered or ignored entirely. Sadly, Halloween is likely to be the same.  

Halloween is a time where everyone dresses up in frightening costumes and the children collect candy. However,  Covid-19  has made it so that children aren’t  to go door to door collecting candy from their neighbors like previous years. Though, there are many alternatives to regular trick-or-treating that the creative minds of Montgomery County are putting together.

DC Party Box, in partnership with WILLCO, is bringing the Halloween experience from the movie screen  to your car with an old-fashion drive-in movie theater in Rockville.  Throughout the month of October, the theater will be playing Halloween-themed movies including classics such as Ghostbusters, Scream, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  

Additionally, DC Party Box and WILLCO is hosting a drive-through trick-or-treat event on October 30-31.  Customers can buy tickets online, and drive through the Spooktacular Village, collecting treats along the way. 

If you prefer tricks over treats, Markoff’s Haunted Forest in Dickerson, Maryland, opened on October 9 and will be open until November 1. This haunted forest has fun activities for older kids, including the hybrid haunted trail, live music on Fridays, fire dancing on Saturdays, and a pizza dinner served by the dead after sundown.

If you just want to celebrate Halloween in the comfort of your own home and not go to an event, there are still many options available to you.

Consider hosting a candy scavenger hunt. Similar to an Easter hunt, but instead of eggs, you replace it with your favorite candy! Just hide the candy around your house or in your yard, and let everyone try to find them.

Or you can stick with the old fashion tradition of decorating your houses for the Spooky Season.  House decorations aren’t just reserved for Good Ol’ Saint Nick’s holiday.  Hang up a few spider webs. Carve scary (or cute) faces on pumpkins.  Do whatever you can to make your house the most aesthetically fall and “Halloween-y” house in the neighborhood, and maybe you’ll win that annual unspoken house decoration competition you have with your neighbors. 

Of course, if you want to go the old fashioned way of celebrating Halloween or the fall season at home, just buy a big bag of candy, snuggle up in a blanket, and have a scary movie marathon.