Halloween During Covid: The Trick without the Treat

Thankfully, some houses kept up the spirit with their decorations, despite the lower than usual foot traffic. Photo: Mohammad Hossain

By SAFINA RAFAELI 

Halloween was quite a bummer this year.

There were barely any people out, and many houses and businesses were either not giving out candy or they had put a communal bucket outside, asking people to take one. Many stores were actually closed, and most buildings were not letting trick-or-treaters come upstairs.

On a walk, we only noticed one group of young children who were wearing costumes. The entire neighborhood looked like an abandoned ghost town. While a few things such as watching scary movies and eating candy stayed the same during this Covid-era Halloween, maintaining social distancing had a huge effect on trick-or-treating and spending time with friends.

Valeria Rodas, a junior, said that her Halloween experience was “honestly super boring” because she did not get to see any of her friends and she missed celebrating with a big group of people. “Halloween just felt a bit lonely this year,” she said. “It had a different energy than usual, and it felt like more of a typical day than a holiday.” She ended up just staying home and spending time with her family.

Stephanie Rakhmonova, another junior, had a similar experience. “I wasn't even allowed to leave the house this year, which sucked because Halloween is usually one of my favorite holidays,” she said. She ended up Facetiming her friends to celebrate, and that was “about as interesting as the night got.” Rakhmonova described this year’s Halloween as “kind of a let down and super disappointing.” She hopes that next year Halloween will go back to being the fun and festive holiday it usually is.

Keep your fingers crossed, trick-or-treaters.

The usual trick-or-treating at local shops in Brooklyn’s Chinatown was almost completely absent this year. Photo: Kevin Zheng