Mark Roemer image of a properly decorated balcony in an apartment complex near Oakland, CA

Tips for Trick-or-Treating in an Apartment Complex

This Halloween, I, Mark Roemer, encourage you to scare up some good times by going apartment trick-or-treating with your friends and neighbors.

Halloween is one of the most popular holidays in the United States. It includes all of the necessary aspects, such as decorations, costumes, and sweets. You may turn your house into a spooky wonderland, eat your favorite treats guilt-free, and get away with terrifying folks.

Going door-to-door and asking strangers for candy is also a part of the scariest day of the year. This is as much a piece of the holiday as anything else, regardless of where you reside. Though apartment trick-or-treating becomes more complicated when we’re all trying to keep socially distant and safe.

Although the number of people who celebrate Halloween fell by 10% in 2020, it remains a popular holiday. Even if you reside in an apartment complex, there are a few ways to celebrate this year while staying safe.

Make a path

If your apartment complex is set on having trick-or-treating this year, take a cue from businesses that have made significant changes to maintain social distance. Make it a one-way experience with a definite beginning and end.

It’s easier to maintain distance in the short halls of an apartment building if trick-or-treaters take the elevator to the top floor and work their way down, with everyone going in the same direction.

Make a trick-or-treating map and place exciting arrows all over the floor throughout the night. To add a little flair, consider setting up a formal finish line with music and lights. Put hand sanitizer in a communal space on each floor and urge renters only to hand out individually wrapped goodies.

It would be best if you advertised that you have candy

Because not every apartment has a controllable light at the front door, it’s a good idea to encourage tenants who wish to participate in posting a sign on their door announcing that they have the products. You might also ask those who want to greet apartment trick-or-treaters to decorate their doors somehow, while others who don’t want to adorn their doors leave them plain.

This will not only keep trick-or-treaters moving through the building, but it also relieves those who refuse to answer the door from having to listen to excited children knock – over and over again.

Grab and go 

Turn trick-or-treating in your flat into a pick-up party. Request that any tenants who want to participate construct tiny Halloween grab bags to place outside their doors on Halloween. Check with your property manager to see if you can send out an invitation or display a brochure in the mailroom.

Put out everyone’s goody bags at the same time so that those who wish to trick-or-treat can grab and go at each door safely. This way, you avoid unnecessary touch, trick-or-treaters don’t have to wear masks to keep safe, and everyone who wants a traditional Halloween experience gets it.

Organize a candy hunt

Apartment trick-or-treating is delightful if your building has many children, but the necessity to maintain social distance can make things more difficult. Turn the night into a candy-filled scavenger hunt to offer everyone lots of chances to burn off all the sugar they’ve consumed.

To hide candy, use the green space outside your building, the pool area, or even the common areas inside. Allow families to come through at predetermined times to avoid a candy-hunting stampede.

You will need a few volunteers to hide candy throughout the scavenger hunt, and you may want to limit the pieces of candy each person can take. Still, an activity like this keeps the Halloween spirit alive even when traditional trick-or-treating isn’t possible.

Participate in a parade

Because it’s so much fun to show off costumes on Halloween, why not organize a parade? Trick-or-treaters can form a line in a central location, spaced apart, and walk the route while onlookers cheer them on. It engages the entire community, with everyone operating at their degree of comfort.

As a gift, give parade participants bags full of candy, so the event has all the trappings of trick-or-treating without the need to knock on any doors.

Make it a competition

Change things up a little if trick-or-treating is all about getting candy, regardless of how it happens—inviting each flat to take part in a Halloween-themed competition. Perhaps everyone decorates their door, or each unit carves and displays their pumpkin outside their door. Then, on Halloween night, everyone walks around the building, leaving candy at the homes they like best. The winning unit is the one with the most sweets, but everyone gets extra gifts.

Drop the candy off

Rather than sending trick-or-treaters out to collect candy, bring the goodies to them—request candy donations from renters before Halloween. Sort what you get into candy bags that should be bursting at the seams with deliciousness.

Dress up as a pumpkin or a friendly monster on Halloween and distribute the goody bags to each flat on your property. Trick-or-treaters get all the candy they would have gotten if they had gone through the halls, plus they can get excited about the mystery candy deliverer.

Virtually have a good time

Take matters into your own hands if trick-or-treating isn’t occurring in your flat this year. With a virtual party, you may maintain your social distance. Have everyone dress up and host a virtual costume contest afterward. What is the award for the winner? Of course, there’s candy. Make a candy basket treat to send to the winner’s address.

You can also hold a socially distanced, in-person gathering in your apartment or at an exterior location on the property if you only have a small group of pals to see. To avoid cross-contamination, make sure you have pre-packaged goodies and individual cans or bottles to drink from.

Give yourself a reward

Candy is fantastic, but some folks enjoy trick-or-treating, to be afraid. They’re the ones on the lookout for ghoulish costumes and homemade haunted houses.

By viewing a horror movie or two on Halloween night, you can keep the scare alive without going door-to-door. Make sure that everyone watching with you is “treated” by going out and purchasing a large quantity of candy. Everyone may trick-or-treat around the living room to build their ultimate candy stash for the movie if you separate each sort of candy into separate bowls.

Check out any of these scariest movies of all time for some inspiration on which films do the scare correctly, including:

• “The Exorcist” 

• “Hereditary” 

• “The Conjuring” 

• “The Shining” 

• “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (the original)

You’ll have a fantastic Halloween night if you can fall asleep after the scares and the candy.

Keep the chocolates, but let go of the anxiety

Every year no matter what other circumstances interfere with our ability to go out and have an excellent time, being safe on Halloween is a concern. For apartment trick-or-treating, various options will engage the entire complex, keep the candy flowing, and ensure everyone has a happy and safe night. I, Mark Roemer, hope you have found this list to be helpful.