Host an Outdoor Scary Movie Night

If you have decent weather, one good way to celebrate Halloween in a safe, socially distanced manner is to host an outdoor movie night. All you need is a digital projector, a screen, blankets and chairs, and some seasonal treats and beverages. If it’s a kids’ party, Milwaukee Mom suggests titles such as Hocus Pocus, Ghostbusters, Addams Family and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. If you’re hosting adults only, you can go gorier with classics such as Halloween and Friday the 13th or any number of spooky genre flicks. #SociallyDistanced #HalloweenTips

Try an Outdoor Trunk-or-Treat

The Trunk-or-Treat has become “a popular alternative to trick-or-treating” in many areas during the pandemic, says The Curious Frugal. Families put on their costumes, decorate the trunks of their cars and meet at an outdoor location to celebrate and exchange treats. Add a spooky soundtrack, and it’s almost as good as going door-to-door — only safer. “There is a middle ground between doing everything and not being safe or careful, and canceling #Halloween completely,” the story says. #SociallyDistanced #HalloweenTips

Mask Up for a Safe Halloween

Reasonable precautions to observe as you and the family celebrate #Halloween this year include wearing mask to reduce the chance of transmission, says The Conversation. Kids can wear them under their costumes, or incorporate them into the costume itself; adults should wear them when dispensing treats. Have children wash their hands or use sanitizer frequently, especially before eating candy. Celebrating outside reduces the risk of anyone transmitting the virus, and those exhibiting symptoms of illness should get tested and skip the celebrations altogether. #SociallyDistanced #HalloweenTips

How to Hand Out Treats at a Distance

Celebrating a second Halloween under COVID won’t be quite as scary since so many Americans have now been #vaccinated. But common sense will still rule the day: Try to maintain a socially distanced six feet between yourself and strangers when giving out treats, and celebrate outdoors if possible. Cutefetti suggests using a grabber or tongs to hand out candy (no homemade treats, please — only prepackaged ones), or make grab bags to toss to the neighborhood kids or set out for the taking. If you’re feeling handy, you can build a Halloween candy chute for dispensing treats. #HalloweenTips

The Scariest Stuff

At #Halloween time, people love to have a little fun with the phobias that scare them. Houses get bedecked with #spectres and #spiderwebs, and children dress up in #ghoulish, #gory costumes to roam the neighborhoods’ front porches in search of free candy.

But the really #scary stuff may be INSIDE THE HOUSE. Overstuffed closets that don’t shut. Heaping toy bins. Stacks of books and papers that list under their own weight. Shelves jammed with boxes of rejects and extras. That’s right: Your house is #haunted by #clutter.

Many of the things creating the clutter may be uncomfortable to look at — clothing that no longer fits or has gone out of style, for example. It’s embarrassing to look at, so you shove it to the back of the closet and try to forget about it.

Or those extra knickknacks that didn’t find a place in your new home (and never will). Isn’t it best, you might think, to just box them up and put them on a shelf in hopes that someday they will fit in to your decor?

No! Get rid of them now, and you’ll say goodbye to those embarrassments while creating new space in your home for the things you use and love. Along the way, you’ll reduce the anxiety that having a cramped, disorganized and cluttered home can produce.

Scary Mommy says that clutter produces an ominous dread in her that’s worse than any installment of the Friday the 13th franchise. “Cleaning up clutter is not just another thing on the to-do list like packing my kids’ lunches. It’s a full-on ragey kind of panic.

“It’s the feeling that I literally can’t breathe with all the clutter that’s filling our house,” she says. “It’s a feeling that the world is a chaotic place that I can’t control, and all of that chaos is represented by the loud, unruly, angsty wreck that is my living room.”

Chaos is scary. But the #decluttering process is also scary, because it demands that you go through all of that broken, disused and extra stuff and make snap decisions about what can stay and what should go.

In the spirit of the season, resolve to face those fears. Pick a disorganized, overstuffed shelf, closet or room and begin. It may be uncomfortable, embarrassing or frightening at first, but as your space slowly gets more organized, you’ll feel the anxiety lift.

If you find anything that may still be useful to other people as you declutter, bag it up and contact ClothingDonations.org for a donation pickup. Like giving out candy, you’ll be cheered to donate something knowing that it will assist veterans year-round.

And that may just make decluttering feel like a trick and a treat. Happy Halloween!