Halloween definitely deserves the hype. There’s nothing better than getting chased by a man with a chainsaw through a cornfield and then coming home and curling up on the couch to watch your favorite scary movie. As people are trading in their costume masks for surgical masks amidst this pandemic, many are wondering what this upcoming spooky season will look like. While the circumstances are certainly different, there are fortunately still a lot of fun ways to celebrate this year.

1. ScareHouse: This place is practically a Pittsburgh classic, and it is getting a much bigger home this year as it moved to the Pittsburgh Mills. Like with many other places, masks and social distancing measures are required, and tickets will have to be bought ahead of time to account for the limited capacity. However, this year all groups will be small and private, giving guests more individual attention from the scarers. 
2. Soergel Orchards: This place is another fall must-see. While there may not be a Fall Festival or hay rides going on this year, their apple orchard and pumpkin patch will be open to a limited number of guests. Their market will also be open, which is a great opportunity to snag a bottle of their famous apple cider!
3. Freedom Farms: While many things may be canceled this year, the Fall Festival at Freedom Farms is still on. It runs every weekend in October and includes hay rides, pumpkin patches, face painting, and fresh food. It’s also only $10 per person, so for such a great price it’s definitely worth it to go check it out!
4. Simmons Farm: While this place may be a little farther away than the others, I seriously think the hike is worth it. A standard day bracelet starts at $13 and includes a hay ride, corn mazes, a hay maze, and more, and for a little extra you can also pick pumpkins, apples, and fresh flowers. 

At the same time, I also know that there is a global pandemic going on, so I get that going out might not be your thing right now. However, there are still a ton of fun ways to get into the Halloween spirit at home. You could carve pumpkins over Zoom with your friends or family to make it feel like you are together, and you could even have a competition to try and out decorate your neighbors. You could also get a group of friends together to watch scary movies or jump in a pile of leaves. If you want to spread some Halloween cheer to others, you could “boo” your neighbors by leaving a bag of candy or cute decorations in front of someone’s house with a note telling them to boo someone else, or you could organize a glow in the dark egg hunt for your neighborhood. If you’re interested in other cultures, you could learn about other global ways of celebrating October 31st by cooking or baking the foods and making crafts from different cultures.

While Halloween is the scariest time of the year, this year has been pretty scary and uncertain as a whole due to this pandemic. Nonetheless, there’s still ways to adapt and overcome these circumstances to make Halloween and all celebrations as fun and normal as possible