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By Amy Arnold, co-founder and chief brand officer, and Jessica Stanley, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Card My Yard

We know the past 16 months have been a roller coaster ride-especially when it comes to the way we celebrate holidays. We recently saw this survey from the Nation Retail Federation showing that traditions like handing out candy and gathering are coming back—and over half of consumers are interested in decorating for Halloween this year. We wanted to share some tips on the best ways to celebrate the season for those getting out and about or wanting to keep their celebrations quaint and quiet this year. Regardless of your plans, there are plenty of ways to still celebrate Halloween when October 31 rolls around!

Fall festivals are a great way to be together with your family and offer a wide variety of activities for all ages. Most festivals include a corn maze, great photo opportunities and even live music at times! We recommend starting with photos with your kids before they start playing around in all the activities and ending with live music!

Neighborhood Halloween drive-by parades are a safe and fun way to get your entire community involved. You can pick a starting point in your neighborhood and have your kids “trick or treat” from the car! Start the parade in the early evening and finish off to where the kids have time to look through their treats back at home! This also allows everyone to see the neighborhood’s creative decorations in a quicker and socially distanced way.

A Card My Yard sign is a great way to participate in the spirit of the season with a more custom approach, especially for kids who are immunocompromised. In fact, our very first sign that we ever created were three simple letters, BOO. You can “BOO” your neighbor’s yard or celebrate someone’s birthday with a “Happy Birthday” sign. A yard sign can also serve the purpose of letting your trick or treaters know you’re serving allergy free treats at your house!

Decorating on a theme is a fun way to get creative with your Halloween decorations. You can even get your neighborhood involved and host a Halloween decoration contest! Some of our favorite themes we’ve seen have been monster mash, Autumn harvest and Alice in Wonderland. You can take a step further and coordinate your family’s Halloween costumes with your decorations!

Indoor Halloween scavenger hunts is something that became widely popular throughout the pandemic. This is a great option to consider if the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating on Halloween. You can take clues and place them throughout your house and at each location reward your child with a treat!

Halloween baking brings out the creativity in everyone! We each have three kids, and they are always up for some friendly competition with each other. Make this a fun game between your kids to see who comes up with the most creative treat! Our personal favorites are creating custom cookies and Halloween candy bark!

Family Halloween movie night allows everyone to relax and spend time with one another in the comfort of your own home. Give your kids the task of setting up the movie spot (ours love building forts) and enjoy your homemade Halloween treats! Some of our top Halloween movie picks are “Halloweentown”, “Hocus Pocus” or “The Nightmare Before Christmas!”

Pumpkin carving can be seen as a tedious task, but the reward is seeing your kids’ imagination come to life with their design. After their carving is completed, take the pumpkin outside and have your kids display their hard work to your entire neighborhood!

We hope you find as much joy as we do in celebrating Halloween that includes one or more of these tips. Even though trick or treating is back, you don’t have to participate if you don’t feel comfortable doing so, and fortunately all of these tips involve plenty of candy!

Founded in 2014, Card My Yard is America’s premier yard greetings service with 450+ franchise locations in 45 states and a national headquarters in Austin, Texas. Catering to special occasions, events and milestones, the company has transformed celebrations across the country and continues to make a positive impact in communities nationwide. For more information, visit www.cardmyyard.com and stay connected @cardmyyard.