Last week, I listened carefully to Dr. Strang explain how to properly do Halloween this year. He tried. I’m not sure I got it.
So trick of treating is okay, but as near as I can figure, no one is allowed to touch anything.
You can’t just put out a big bowl of candy and let ’em have it it until it’s gone. You can’t have multiple people reaching into the same bowl.
You can’t just grab handfuls and stick them into whatever container the child may be carrying. No one wants my germy hands all over their treats.
A slingshot would be fun, but again, you’re probably getting your hands on the treats during the shooting process.
My mother saw the tube delivery thing that some people have been working on. She really likes that. It is pretty neat and allows for social distancing, but she doesn’t have enough slope from her front door. So you would have to run a hose into the top end to create more of a water slide effect to wash the candy out the other end, or she’ll have to sit on the roof to get enough slope happening. I don’t think the roof is a good idea. Lying on the ground with broken bones might make for a fine decoration, but I try to avoid the whole emergency room thing.
I have long thought about building a catapult, or even better, a trebuchet. This is a skill I believe to be lacking in our modern life. Not enough castles in need of a good siege these days, so we’ve kind of forgotten how to build such things. But they might work.
Social distancing wouldn’t be an issue. In fact if you build it right, you could even help trick or treaters stay safe by allowing them to not cross the street and just fling treats at them from afar. Those little bags of chips are pretty light, but I bet you could get them to carry that far,
But time is running short and catapults need a bit of time for research and development. Another one of those things I’ll put in the “maybe next year” file.
For this year, maybe rubber gloves and a pair of barbecue tongs.
