Halloween in Disguise

When one door closes, another one opens — sometimes, repeatedly

My nine-year-old daughter, Amelia, loves Halloween. Ever since she was a baby, she’d dress up and trick or treat with either my husband or me. Among the many things that were different last year, Halloween was effectively canceled for many, including us. Even though we weren’t attending parties or wandering the neighborhood, we still wanted to do something. At first, it felt like we were grasping for any distraction from what we’d rather be doing, but we ended up having a fantastic time.

The plan

No matter what else was happening last Halloween, Amelia needed to be in her costume. She had dressed up as a bunny the previous two years, but in a surprising twist, she was a butterfly last year. Just kidding — she was a bunny. While we don’t have a pet rabbit, my child has filled our home with toys devoted to fluffy-tailed cuteness. Whether the little pointy-eared guys are stuffed, resin, plastic, pretend-pellet-pooping, on a t-shirt, or in a drawing, if it involves bunnies, we own it.

Trick-or-treating took a little more thought, but we found a way to do it at home. My husband and I were sent to opposite sides of the house and given one of Amelia’s dress-up bins. Then she ran between us while pretending we were in different…