Some Halloween traditions will change this year
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It won’t be the same Halloween for the Harvey Family in Tillsonburg, but it should be fun.
“We love Halloween – this family loves Halloween,” said Terri Harvey, who has with husband Peter and children Kaylie and Sierra filled their front lawn in past years with a vast collection of Halloween decorations – and enthusiastically participated in the trick-or-treating tradition.
It’s different this year during a COVID-19 pandemic. Some families will not trick or treat, including the Harveys.
“We didn’t really feel safe with trick or treating this year, handing out candy, or doing any of that,” said Terri. “But we still wanted to have fun with the girls and their best friends, so we decided to have a Halloween dance party in the backyard. Then we’ll be going inside to watch scary movies, doing cupcakes, that kind of stuff.”
“No scary movies,” said Sierra, 10, who will have two friends at the party.
“Well, maybe not for the younger ones,” said Terri. “I love them, and so does (Kaylie).
“I’ll be watching scary movies,” nodded Kaylie, 13, who invited one friend for the party.
“We’re not allowed to have more than 10 people,” Terri noted. “But I still wanted to make it fun for them even though they’re not going trick or treating, getting all the candy. We’ll have costumes, candy, dancing, movies, baking, pizza – and some candy.”
The family will not be handing out candy on Saturday.
“We’re going to have a sign on our door saying ‘out of candy,” said Terri.
“Every time someone walks up, the light is going to come on,” said Peter, noting they have a motion detector. “So we’ve got to have that ‘no candy’ sign. Hopefully the fact that there’s nothing on the front lawn is a kind of a hint that we’re not doing it this year – because that’s what everybody looks for at this house. We get an average of 140 to 150 kids a year.”
“We are one of the hot spots,” said Terri. “I don’t like that the front yard is bare, but at least we got to do the back yard.”
“It was a hard decision, but at the same time…” said Peter.
“Got to keep everyone safe,” said Terri. “At least my girls are old enough to know that it’s not just about going out for trick or treating, they can still have fun here.”
“That’s what Halloween is,” Kaylie protested, saying she still enjoys trick or treating.
“I want candy,” Sierra agreed.
“It’s going to be a whole lot different this year,” said Terri.
Everyone in the family will have costumes once again this year – Stitch, Unicorn Kitty, Giraffe and Deadpool.
“Halloween is our favourite holiday – for the decorating,” said Terri. “And Christmas is my favourite for everything else.”
“Halloween or Christmas?” Peter asked.
“It’s a tie between Halloween and Christmas,” said Kaylie.
“Christmas,” Sierra concluded.
cabbott@postmedia.com
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