5 Ways to Make Halloween More Inclusive
With Halloween coming up for those who celebrate, here are 5 small ways you can make Trick-or-Treating more inclusive.
- Make sure where you set up is accessible: Ensure wherever you set up has a clear and open path for children and parents to get to it. Make sure the area has little to no stairs and at least enough space for a wheelchair to easily get through. This could help out both kids and their parents depending on their needs.
- Diversify your treats: There are a plethora of different food allergies children may have (i.e., diary, dyes, gluten, peanuts, etc.) or children who don’t like candy altogether that still want to participate in Trick-or-Treating. Take this into consideration when buying treats. You could buy a few allergy friendly options, or instead of buying bags and bags of candy, you could buy non-food items. This could include small Halloween toys (Target or Walmart have a ton in their Halloween section), Pokemon card packs, or thrifted books so that there are options for everyone. Also, make sure your non-food treats are in a separate bowl to avoid contamination.
- Honor all Communication: All communication is valid. During this Halloween season, make sure you’re honoring all communication attempts and not expecting everyone to verbally say “Trick or Treat” or "thank you". You could print off or draw visuals for children to point to, or honor non-verbal communication requests such as gesturing. Not all children use spoken language and that's okay!
- Take sensory needs into account: Although having Halloween decorations that are bright flashing lights and make loud startling noises may be fun and spooky, it can also be difficult for children with sensory needs. These decorations can be incredibly overwhelming and scary (or even dangerous for people who have Epilepsy). Try turning these off before Trick-or-Treating in your area begins or alert parents prior to them walking up so that they can choose if their children come closer.
- Be accepting of everyone: At the end of the day, we don’t know anything about most, if not all, of the children who will be participating in Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhoods. Having grace and being kind can make all the difference in their night!