Chelsey Lafone and her family created Halloween Candy Launcher.
By Sharon Aron Baron
With Halloween days away, it’s apparent that trick-or-treating will look a lot different this year.
Since Covid-19 hit the country in March, families have learned to rethink and redo everyday activities they have taken for granted. And holidays like Halloween are calling for some creativity from parents.
Parkland mom and blogger Chelsey Lafone has found an innovative way to continue the neighborhood trick-or-treating tradition while maintaining social distancing by creating a candy launcher from the balcony of their home.
Made from PVC piping from Home Depot in Coral Springs, they bought two ten-foot three-inch wide pipes and cut them in half, attached them with joints and curved elbows on each end, reinforcing it with glue, as well as Gorilla Tape, and wrapped it with 24 rolls of gauze. When it was finished, it was attached to their top balcony with zip ties where they will drop the candy to the trick-or-treaters below.
Chelsey’s inspiration was her five-year-old son Mason, who was worried that he wouldn’t have a safe way to trick or treat on Halloween.
“I had seen other social distancing ideas, but none of them seemed far enough distanced — or as fun. This way, we know he at least can trick or treat safely with the neighbors.
To make it extra safe, Chelsey said they would have 6-foot markers to ensure little ones keep a safe distance and hand sanitizer nearby. For children with allergies, they will be launching bubbles and bouncy balls.
Chelsey and her husband Matt, the Chief Operating Officer at Payless ShoeSource, live in Cascata and moved from Groton, MA. They have three children, ages 5, 13, and 16, and she runs a blog called TheMamaGuide.com.
“I wanted to create a safe way for kids to enjoy trick or treating this year and to inspire other parents to get creative,” she said.
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