DENVER, Colo. – A Colorado mother has come up with a clever way to help children safely trick-or-treat amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Wendy Reeves Winter unveiled her “candy sticking” hack on Facebook. It involves taping treats to sticks and placing them throughout your yard, so kids can just pick up a piece of candy without interacting at your front door.
Winter says the thought of canceling trick-or-treating made her really sad, so she started brainstorming alternatives.
“It was one of those middle-of-the-night thoughts as I started to think about safer ways to do trick-or-treating,” said Winter. “I love Halloween and didn't want to see the fun of trick-or-treating go away entirely. So, I thought creativity might be the way around it.”
That’s when she got the idea to decorate her yard “Willy Wonka-style,” so she could still hangout on her porch and see everyone’s costumes.
“Kids can come by and get candy from a safe distance and I’ll get to smile and wave from my front porch,” Winter wrote on Facebook. “Win. Win.”
Winter did a little experimenting by attaching candy to different kinds of sticks. First, she tried pointy kebabs she had around the house. They went into the ground easily, but some were worried about them being too sharp for kids wondering around in the dark.
Next, she switched to Popsicle sticks and found those worked the best for her.
“Plastic spoons, glow sticks, plastic straws, etc. work great too,” she wrote.
Winter suggests taping the candy onto the sticks ahead of time, so you aren’t rushed on Halloween. She says parents should stick the candy in the ground during prime trick-or-treating time and bring the treats inside afterwards, so critters don’t get to them. She also suggests setting the candy back from the edge of the lawn in case people are walking their pets.
Winter says the response to her idea has been great and people across the country have picked up on it. Locally, she says her whole block in Denver will be doing “candy sticking” and she knows others in her neighborhood will as well.
“Whether it's this idea or another one, I just hope that people will be smart and safe this Halloween,” she said.
