Trick-or-Treat… in reverse
A different take on Halloween
I love Halloween. I used to dress up alongside my nephews as they went trick-or-treating, walking the neighborhoods and holding onto parts of their costumes as they tired.
One year I wore a huge, painted cardboard box over my head to mimic the Creepers from Minecraft. Another year, we all dressed up as Avengers, so I found the perfect Gamora shirt to pair with my black tights and boots.
After the pandemic hit, though, we were in separate quarantines and Halloween had been canceled. My partner and I talked one night about our desire to celebrate anyway: to dress up, to do something, to try and lift some spirits, even if they were just our own.
We found funny costumes online, bought a bunch of candy, and made stacks of orange Jell-O shots. As an aside, we live in a smaller community without many children, so we focused on treating our grown-up neighbors.
On Halloween night, we headed out to reverse trick-or-treat.
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We loaded a wagon with treats, coordinated our COVID masks with our costumes, and headed out to knock on doors. We sang out “trick-or-treat” as we handed them candy and Jell-o. We stood socially distant and chatted through our respective masks, hoping to leave some joy behind.
And we did. We were surprised though, at how much joy it gave us.
We heard comments about our costumes, about the surprise, about the Jell-o, on and off over the next year.
So, last year we did it again. We dressed up and headed out to visit our favorite neighbors again. We were amazed to see how anticipated and welcomed we were, the conversations that then lingered a bit longer.
We even met new folks, gathered for a party, and happy to enjoy a Jell-o shot on a balmy Halloween evening. We no longer had masks to fight through, now safely vaccinated. We chatted and laughed, and left treats on darkened doors.
And this year? We have already been asked about whether we will be out again. Yes, we responded, Halloween is safely on and so are we.
We love this now-ritual, of giving when it’s not expected, of the joy we feel and receive through our silly costumes and Jell-o shots.
Who knows? Maybe someday, we’ll be knocking on your door.
