As the spookiest day of the year approaches, students might are finding different ways to celebrate Halloween as the pandemic has towns and parents scared for students’ safety during the pandemic.

Although things such as school have been getting back to in-person formats, students approach typical Halloween activities with caution.  Lake Zurich is still allowing trick-or-treating from 3 pm to 8 pm this year while encouraging people to take safety measures, but many students are still uncertain about making plans. 

“Usually there’s a party at a friend’s house with a group of people, but since there is COVID there probably isn’t one this year,” Michael Zaucha, senior, said. “It’s the idea of respecting social distancing and though I don’t know the exact regulations it’s better to be safe and to limit the amount of people you’re exposed to.”

In order to limit contact, Zaucha says he is “just keeping the group small and familiar,” Zaucha says.  Students who tend to trick or treat are also making adjustments to plans.

“You can’t do the same things because in terms of spreading [COVID], it can so easily spread with trick or treating and things like that,” Chloe Kaczmarek, sophomore, said. “With touching and passing out candy and just being around large groups of people everywhere, the risk is high.”

 Although Kaczmarek says that her neighborhood is suggesting residents leave individual goodie bags for trick or treaters, she still believes that activities that don’t require as much contact or large gatherings are more preferable options as the holiday draws nearer.

“I think it’s definitely possible to still do Halloween things as long as you’re comfortable with it,” Natalie Czarnik, sophomore, said.  “If you normally watch a scary movie then maybe you can sit out in someone’s backyard and bring blankets and things and you can do an outdoor social distanced movie night thing.”

Despite the adverse circumstances, students still put a positive spin on restrictions and vouch for other activities people can do to get in touch with the Halloween spirit.

“We can still do things like decorating so people can drive through neighborhoods and see decorations and all the fun that people are doing to participate in Halloween, despite not being able to go out really and celebrate with friends,” Zaucha said.  “We can’t do the activities that we used to do but can still try less risky things to participate in.”