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October 13, 2021 | By Tabitha Andrews Orth and Mari Wagner Davis
Every parent or caring adult knows all kids have gone through enough during the past few years. They deserve to have a fun and memorable Halloween celebration, keeping in mind the Covid-19 rules and mandates still in place in many states and countries.
Trick-or-treating was certainly different last year and may be this year as well. Whether the area you live has scheduled full door to door trick or treating or modified events, you can make sure every child gets to experience the candy, the costumes, and the fun of this truly kid-friendly event. Here are some tricks you can use to make this Halloween a treat for most families. This is an opportunity whether out of need to simply to create a new and fun Halloween tradition for many of us to get creative and enjoy this wonderful time-honored day!
Stage a Trick-or-Treat in Your Home: Set out buckets of candy in different rooms, decorate each door in a special way, and play Halloween music. Instead of going door-to-door in the neighborhood, kids go door-to-door in your house. Add to the fun by carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them.
Do a Twilight Hunt: Adhere glow-in-the-dark stickers to goody bags and hide them all over the backyard. At dusk, give each child a small flashlight and send them searching for treasure. Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with friends or neighbors, is an added bonus.
Host a Mask Costume Contest on Zoom: Pictures can be submitted to an appointed judge. Then, friends submit to design the judge the designs of personal or a family’s set of face masks. Gather together over Zoom to see who has come up with the award-winning single mask and set of masks.
Create a Backyard A-Maze: Set up a family obstacle course with booby traps and haunts. Ask the kids to collect balls to win a prize. A few options here would be:
Stage a Halloween-Themed Meal: Organize a Halloween-themed meal at home with your family members. Get creative with your meal choices, thinking up fun ways to present traditional meal items geared toward this holiday. Need help? Check out the Weelicious blog for some fun ideas!
The Halloween-themed meal described above can also be staged for larger groups, too, in an outdoor location when eating and socializing with larger groups. In fact, there’s an opportunity to maximize the fun for adults if there’s competition involved in either the set-up or the food – or both!
Organize a Schoolwide or Other Parking Lot Trick-or-Treat: If the weather will cooperate, it’s easy enough to stage this in a large, local parking lot. Decorate the cars or trunks before gathering to give and receive candy. With everyone wearing a face mask, park in alternate spots, and place cones six feet from each car’s trunk. Include a rope at the end of each cone that’s clipped with candy for trick-or-treaters. By planning this in advance, you may be able to ask businesses inclined to participate (especially those are geared toward children) to donate candy, coupons or other treats to the event. If the space allows this, add an outdoor Halloween movie with people/families spaced six feet apart.
Do a Window Treasure Hunt: Pick a Halloween symbol – something simple like a witch’s hat – and then let the kids cruise the neighborhood to try to find as many as they can. This works best by coordinating in advance with neighbors, encouraging them to dress appropriately and creating a station outside of each participating home with glow tape to mark social distancing. Toss treat bags or stock a station made up as a caldron or witch’s table with treats, so each child can come up to it to get a treat left by the retreating witch. Lights and music can enhance this event dramatically! Other fun ideas for this are in this video, including how to make glow-in-the-dark chalk to create social distancing, games, a maze that gives clues to the next treat stations, etc. Let your imagination guide you.
Host a Zoom Costume Party or a Photo Shoot: Have a Zoom costume party to demonstrate your creativity. For safe social distancing, dress the kids up, set up a backdrop outside and let each of them ham it up for their own mini photo shoot. Give treats and prizes to all participants and a memorable photo to make the occasion.
Reversed Trick-or-Treating: Organize a “You’ve Been Booed” event with your friends and neighbors. Get the word out by text, e-mail or phone to explain the game, asking people to sign up for a “Secret Boo.” Every participant’s name is put in a bag and each person is assigned who they will “Boo” by a drawing. Ring the doorbell of the person’s name you receive, leaving a bag of goodies out front, and running away before the door is opened. Tape a big sign to the bag that says, “You’ve Been Booed!” along with the recipient’s name and signed by the giver so they know whom to thank.
Host an Online Jack-o-lantern Event: Make sure entries are put in age categories – painting for the kids and carving for adults – so pumpkin art is judged among peer groups. Pictures can be submitted to an appointed judge. Have treats and prizes for all participants. In the event this is done in a neighborhood, light your jack-o-lanterns at a marked social distance when it’s dark enough to see each work of art. Judging and treat- and prize-giving can be done at a social distance.
Organize a Halloween Car Parade: Car parades can be a lot of fun. Music and lights can add to your Halloween caravan. Create a “drive-by event” or contest where individuals dress up or decorate their vehicles and drive by multiple judges’ homes, with a Zoom event after for awarding prizes.
“Drive-through events” are where individuals remain in their vehicles in an area with Halloween displays. Participants can receive a treat bag of commercially packaged non-perishable treats. Contact local places of worship, schools and locations that have large parking lots to see if you can arrange an event at a central location.
Door Decorating Competition: Get neighbors, friends and family living nearby to sign up for a door decorating competition. Then walk or drive by each house to view the spooky scenes. Arrange for treat-giving at each location by texting or calling the house to announce your arrival. Treats can be placed on the hood of your car (hopefully by someone in costume) so the kids can get out and retrieve their treats while social distancing. Again, appoint a judge in advance and host a Zoom after to award prizes for the best door.
Halloween Window Letter Hunt for Kids: This is a great activity that still involves the neighborhood! Contact your neighbors via text, phone or a neighborhood Facebook group. Pick a secret word relating to Halloween, e.g. Ghost, Witch, Goblin, Frankenstein or Vampire. Each home participating is assigned a letter in the secret word. They then create the letter they are assigned with Halloween art. Here is a link to inspire you. A list of participating addresses is posted in front of each participating house so passersby can join in the fun and everyone has the correct addresses. Walk or drive to each house on your list and look for the letter that will be posted by a specific date and time to signify the beginning of the hunt. Make a note of each letter you find at each house. At the end of the hunt, unscramble the letters to solve the word scramble puzzle and discover what the secret word is. Text the organizer the secret word so they know you have solved the trick. Celebrate solving the puzzle trick by having a Halloween-themed meal at home, a special dessert, Halloween family movie time or a candy hunt in your yard or home.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch or Orchard: Be sure in advance that attendees use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples, and that wearing masks in enforced as is social distancing.
Become an Advocate by sharing your story. It may result in accurate diagnosis for someone suffering right now who is yet to be correctly identified. Submit your story with two photos to IAES@autoimmune-encephalitis.org
International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society (IAES), home of the AEWarrior®, is the only Family/Patient-centered organization that assists members from getting a diagnosis through to recovery and the many challenges experienced in their journey. Your donations are greatly appreciated and are the direct result of IAES’ ability to develop the first product in the world to address the needs of patients, Autoimmune Encephalitis Trivia Playing Cards. Every dollar raised allows us to raise awareness and personally help Patients, Families, and Caregivers through their Journey with AE to ensure that the best outcomes can be reached. Your contribution to our mission will help save lives and improve the quality of life for those impacted by AE.
For those interested in face masks, clothing, mugs, and other merchandise, check out our AE Warrior Store! This online shop was born out of the desire for the AE patient to express their personal pride in fighting such a traumatic disease and the natural desire to spread awareness. Join our AE family and help us continue our mission to support patients, families and caregivers while they walk this difficult journey.
October 6, 2020 | By Tabitha Andrews Orth and Mari Wagner Davis
Every parent or caring adult knows all kids have gone through enough this year that they deserve to have a fun and memorable Halloween celebration, keeping in mind the Covid-19 rules of necessary social distancing.
Trick-or-treating will certainly look and feel different this year (the masks alone will change costumes – maybe with a little creativity for the better!), and you can make sure every child gets to experience the candy, the costumes, and the fun of this truly kid-friendly event. Here are some tricks you can use to make this Halloween a treat for most families.
Stage a Trick-or-Treat in Your Home: Set out buckets of candy in different rooms, decorate each door in a special way, and play Halloween music. Instead of going door-to-door in the neighborhood, kids go door-to-door in your house. Add to the fun by carving or decorating pumpkins with members of your household and displaying them.
Do a Twilight Hunt: Adhere glow-in-the-dark stickers to goody bags and hide them all over the backyard. At dusk, give each child asmall flashlight and send them searching for treasure. Carving or decorating pumpkins outside, at a safe distance, with friends or neighbors, is an added bonus.
Host a Mask Costume Contest on Zoom: Pictures can be submitted to an appointed judge. Then, friends submit to design the judge the designs of personal or a family’s set of face masks. Gather together over Zoom to see who has come up with the award-winning single mask and set of masks.
Create a Backyard A-Maze: Set up a family obstacle course with booby traps and haunts. Ask the kids to collect balls to win a prize. A few options here would be:
Stage a Halloween-Themed Meal: Organize a Halloween-themed meal at home with your family members. Get creative with your meal choices, thinking up fun ways to present traditional meal items geared toward this holiday. Need help? Check out the Weelicious blog for some fun ideas!
The Halloween-themed meal described above can also be staged for larger groups, too, in an outdoor location when eating and socializing with larger groups. In fact, there’s an opportunity to maximize the fun for adults if there’s competition involved in either the set-up or the food – or both!
Organize a Schoolwide or Other Parking Lot Trick-or-Treat: If the weather will cooperate, it’s easy enough to stage this in a large, local parking lot. Decorate the cars or trunks before gathering to give and receive candy. With everyone wearing a face mask, park in alternate spots, and place cones six feet from each car’s trunk. Include a rope at the end of each cone that’s clipped with candy for trick-or-treaters. By planning this in advance, you may be able to ask businesses inclined to participate (especially those are geared toward children) to donate candy, coupons or other treats to the event. If the space allows this, add an outdoor Halloween movie with people/families spaced six feet apart.
Do a Window Treasure Hunt: Pick a Halloween symbol – something simple like a witch’s hat – and then let the kids cruise the neighborhood to try to find as many as they can. This works best by coordinating in advance with neighbors, encouraging them to dress appropriately and creating a station outside of each partipating home with glow tape to mark social distancing. Toss treat bags or stock a station made up as a caldron or witch’s table with treats, so each child can come up to it to get a treat left by the retreating witch. Lights and music can enhance this event dramatically! Other fun ideas for this are in this video, including how to make glowin-the-dark chalk to create social distancing, games, a maze that gives clues to the next treat stations, etc. Let your imagination guide you.
Host a Zoom Costume Party or a Photo Shoot: Have a Zoom costume party to demonstrate your creativity. For safe social distancing, dress the kids up, set up a backdrop outside and let each of them ham it up for their own mini photo shoot. Give treats and prizes to all participants and a memorable photo to make the occasion.
Reversed Trick-or-Treating: Organize a “You’ve Been Booed” event with your friends and neighbors. Get the word out by text, e-mail or phone to explain the game, asking people to sign up for a “Secret Boo.” Every participant’s name is put in a bag and each person is assigned who they will “Boo” by a drawing. Ring the doorbell of the person’s name you receive, leaving a bag of goodies out front, and running away before the door is opened. Tape a big sign to the bag that says, “You’ve Been Booed!” along with the recipient’s name and signed by the giver so they know whom to thank.
Host an Online Jack-o-lantern Event: Make sure entries are put in age categories – painting for the kids and carving for adults – so pumpkin art is judged among peer groups. Pictures can be submitted to an appointed judge. Have treats and prizes for all participants. In the event this is done in a neighborhood, light your jack-o-lanterns at a marked social distance when it’s dark enough to see each work of art. Judging and treat- and prize-giving can be done at a social distance.
Organize a Halloween Car Parade: Car parades can be a lot of fun. Music and lights can add to your Halloween caravan. Create a “drive-by event” or contest where individuals dress up or decorate their vehicles and drive by multiple judges’ homes, with a Zoom event after for awarding prizes.
“Drive-through events” are where individuals remain in their vehicles in an area with Halloween displays. Participants can receive a treat bag of commercially packaged non-perishable treats. Contact local places of worship, schools and locations that have large parking lots to see if you can arrange an event at a central location.
Door Decorating Competition: Get neighbors, friends and family living nearby to sign up for a door decorating competition. Then walk or drive by each house to view the spooky scenes. Arrange for treat-giving at each location by texting or calling the house to announce your arrival. Treats can be placed on the hood of your car (hopefully by someone in costume) so the kids can get out and retrieve their treats while social distancing. Again, appoint a judge in advance and host a Zoom after to award prizes for the best door.
Halloween Window Letter Hunt for Kids: This is a great activity that still involves the neighborhood! Contact your neighbors via text, phone or a neighborhood Facebook group. Pick a secret word relating to Halloween, e.g. Ghost, Witch, Goblin, Frankenstein or Vampire. Each home participating is assigned a letter in the secret word. They then create the letter they are assigned with Halloween art. Here is a link to inspire you. A list of participating addresses is posted in front of each participating house so passersby can join in the fun and everyone has the correct addresses. Walk or drive to each house on your list and look for the letter that will be posted by a specific date and time to signify the beginning of the hunt. Make a note of each letter you find at each house. At the end of the hunt, unscramble the letters to solve the word scramble puzzle and discover what the secret word is. Text the organizer the secret word so they know you have solved the trick. Celebrate solving the puzzle trick by having a Halloween-themed meal at home, a special dessert, Halloween family movie time or a candy hunt in your yard or home.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch or Orchard: Be sure in advance that attendees use hand sanitizer before touching pumpkins or picking apples, and that wearing masks in enforced as is social distancing.
Become an Advocate by sharing your story. It may result in accurate diagnosis for someone suffering right now who is yet to be correctly identified. Submit your story with two photos to IAES@autoimmune-encephalitis.org
International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society (IAES), home of the AEWarrior®, is the only Family/Patient-centered organization that assists members from getting a diagnosis through to recovery and the many challenges experienced in their journey. Your donations are greatly appreciated and are the direct result of IAES’ ability to develop the first product in the world to address the needs of patients, Autoimmune Encephalitis Trivia Playing Cards. Every dollar raised allows us to raise awareness and personally help Patients, Families, and Caregivers through their Journey with AE to ensure that the best outcomes can be reached. Your contribution to our mission will help save lives and improve the quality of life for those impacted by AE.
For those interested in face masks, clothing, mugs, and other merchandise, check out our AE Warrior Store! This online shop was born out of the desire for the AE patient to express their personal pride in fighting such a traumatic disease and the natural desire to spread awareness. Join our AE family and help us continue our mission to support patients, families and caregivers while they walk this difficult journey.
Hello AE Family,
IAES takes pride in keeping our community up-to-date with the latest news in the field of autoimmune neurology and topics that directly impact our lives. Our motto, “Education is Power” continues to ring true as education does help to steer the best outcomes. Our motto is particularly appropriate in regard to the COVID-19 Virus.
Information about the COVID-19 continues to dominate world news and likely will for some time to come. We have prepared a flyer of the preventive measures you can take as recommended by the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You can print out and post this flyer at home, school, doctor’s offices, work, place of worship, or anywhere in your community. In addition, we have created an ‘info meme’ that can be easily and widely shared on social media platforms. International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society continues to monitor the situation with the AE community in mind.
The severity of illness or how many people will fall ill from COVID-19 is unknown. However, you are at higher risk if you are immunocompromised due to the immune suppressant medications used in the treatment of autoimmune encephalitis. IAES encourages you to stay informed by following updates from the CDC and/or your local health department. The likelihood of getting COVID-19 depends on where you live in the world and may change quickly.
COVID-19 is a novel virus, and there is still much we have yet to learn. One fact we do know is that an infected person can be a carrier, capable of spreading the virus to others for several days before they begin to show symptoms or know they are sick. Each infected person has the ability to pass the virus on to 2 or 3 people. Implement these hygiene practices now to avoid getting sick. Because there is no way of knowing who a carrier might be, assume you may come in contact with someone who is and institute these preventive hygiene practices and pro-active planning steps right now.
In addition to your advocacy of spreading COVID-19 preventative awareness and implementing the recommended hygiene habits the CDC recommends, plan and prepare ahead should you need to self-quarantine. If a member of your household becomes sick, all family members will have to self-quarantine for 14 days. Because the AE patient’s immune system is compromised, this also means that it takes AE patients longer to fight off a virus and the self-quarantine length may extend beyond the mentioned 14 days. Make sure you have enough food, water, other basic supplies on hand should you need to remain at home for 14 days. Find out if your pharmacy delivers and make sure you will have enough of your medications on hand. Contact your doctor should you have a fever, cough or shortness of breath.
I live in the state of Oregon in the U.S.A. The first two cases of COVID-19 were announced last weekend and are located 15 minutes from my home. The Nursing facility in Washington State that was so badly impacted that is being reported daily on national news is a few hours away. While I was stocking up at the supermarket for supplies the other day, seeing the bare shelves, I felt an eerie feeling of being involved in the beginning of an impending community health crisis.
The woman who helped me at the Deli Counter shared a story of how her friend, who was a second-tier transportation bus driver for the Nursing Home that had been so hard hit had been instructed to self-quarantine and it was not being reported on the news. I realized that there was a true possibility that my husband, son and I may have to self-quarantine at some point during this virus outbreak and we do not have any family support.
As I drove home with my car laden with groceries, I started thinking about staying home for two weeks without back up support. We have lived in the same house for 30 years, and this past year our next-door neighbor, who we loved dearly, moved away and our neighbors directly across the street sold their house. Both neighbors had been a wonderful support to us and us to them over the years and I mourned the loss.
However, we had started to get to know the young couple across the street and we were already lending each other a helping hand. She has a home business as a massage therapist and a 14-month-old daughter. They were at high risk, I realized. There is a couple in their 80’s two doors up from us and they have no family. They are at high risk. Our new neighbor next door, a bachelor and Uber driver is high risk. Another neighbor of ours is a mailman and his wife works at the local elementary school. They are at high risk. The couple next door on our other side are in their late sixties and he has health concerns. They are at high risk. Next to them is a couple whose sons are grown, married and parents now, empty nesters who are not high risk. I realized that the first 8 houses on our block have 6 high-risk households. If I have concerns, they must too. I thought we need to create a neighborhood support network. We will be the best possible back up system for each other and everyone’s concerns can vanish. That’s exactly what I did.
One by one I contacted my neighbors and explained my idea. If one of us became ill, we would have to self-quarantine. Other neighbors in the support network could drop off supplies and meals and pick up prescriptions or whatever was needed for that household. We could all chip in and help where and when we could. We would become our own best built-in back-up system.
The smiles, relief, and enthusiasm everyone greeted the idea with did not surprise me. We needed each other, and it would be a great way to get to know our new neighbors. I opened a text message group with everyone included and typed up a telephone directory. Using a plastic protective sleeve, I included the IAES preventative health measures COVID-19 flyer back to back with the directory. I texted the ‘Neighborhood Support Network’ group to let my neighbors know I would leave their telephone list by their front door. My phone started pinging away as my message was read and I got the chance to visit with all of my neighbors as they greeted me upon my arrival. We laughed and joked and shared stories with each other. Everyone was so excited about the idea and grateful to live among such supportive neighbors.
I feel safer tonight. I know that if one of my neighbors gets sick or just needs a helping hand, they will text or call. Everyone was ‘all in’ and ready to do their part to support the whole. We are going to be just fine on SW Parkview Loop in Beaverton, Oregon. We plan on keeping our network as a permanent network solution too. There is a silver lining in everything I thought. My life just became richer. I hope you do the same in your neighborhood. We are #StrongerTogether.
With Fondness for you all,
Tabitha Orth
President,
International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society
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Our website is not a substitute for independent professional medical advice. Nothing contained on our website is intended to be used as medical advice. No content is intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for your own health professional's advice. Although THE INTERNATIONAL AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS SOCIETY provides a great deal of information about AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS, all content is provided for informational purposes only. The International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society cannot provide medical advice.
International Autoimmune Encephalitis Society is a charitable non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2016 by Tabitha Andrews Orth, Gene Desotell and Anji Hogan-Fesler. Tax ID# 81-3752344. Donations raised directly supports research, patients, families and caregivers impacted by autoimmune encephalitis and to educating healthcare communities around the world. Financial statement will be made available upon request.
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