Quarantined Halloween 2020

I'm a huge Halloween lover. Since I became a teacher, I always dressed up for my students for Halloween. I went to university dressed in Halloween attire and it really had nothing to do with the cliché 'death and gore' of it all. It was because it gave me a reason to dress up and where wigs, to make people laugh at my funny costumes and actually have a reason to do so. I mean once, I think I went to university dressed as Lestat from "Interview with the Vampire" and the very next year I went as Kiriyama from "Battle Royale" so you can tell how informed I am about the season.

Obviously, it's different this year. I won't be going to work all dressed up because I'm not actually going to work during this lockdown at all. We cannot meet people we know, some of you are studying and can't get out of your halls. And I know how it is. As an agoraphobe, it's incredible for me to stay inside all the time but even I know it's unhealthy as hell. So I'm here to help you and give you some tips for having a cool and easy quarantine Halloween. It can still be a lot of fun!

Tips for a Quarantine Halloween: How to Stay Safe and Have Fun!

1. Go Vintage!

Grab an old DVD player or Video Player (which ever one you have) and buy some old-ish horror movies, stick them in and turn the lights down. The vintage feel to Halloween can give some nostalgia to the air and for us millennials, can really take us back to a time when things were a little bit more social and less distant.

2. Zoom Ghost Stories

I like this one a lot because as an Indian girl born and raised in England, I've always had to use these things to talk to my family (but mainly, it was Skype). Get everyone on the zoom conversation to turn their lights off and sit by torchlight. Read each other Ghost Stories and I can guarantee you will have the pants scared off you.

3. Halloween Baking

My favourite part of Halloween is the baking. Now, out of everything it has to be the good ol' pumpkin and ginger cookies I make. They're really simple too!

Here's the recipe if you're wondering, because I'm always up for sharing:

(Recipe makes about 10-15 large cookies. You can make them smaller if you like!)

Pumpkin and Ginger Cookie Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius

2. Grate around 200g of pumpkin and mix with about three tsp of ground ginger and set aside

3. Cream together 125g of butter with 125g of caster sugar and 100g of brown sugar

4. Lightly beat an egg and add it to the sugar/butter mixture

5. Sieve in 225g of self-raising flour

6. Add the pumpkin and ginger mixture from earlier and mix until the mixture is a batter-like consistency

7. Use a spoon size of your choice (just remember the cookies will expand) to make the appropriate sized cookies for your celebrations

8. Bake for around 15 minutes if the cookies are large and 10-12 minutes if they are small

9. Give 10 minutes cooling time before serving

10. I like to sugar dust mine afterwards, it is entirely up to you if you want to do this too (you will require powdered sugar)

4. Drinks All Around!

This one is great if you live with other people because they are fun to make and fun to drink!

A Halloween drink I created that looks exactly like blood with the same consistency too seems to lift the spirits of the people trapped inside together. (Please drink responsibly).

It doesn't have a name, so you may call it what you wish!

Drink Recipe (per glass)

2x tsp honey

1x tsp caster sugar

1x tsp of red food colouring

1x tsp lemon juice

1 glass of vermouth

Blend the ingredients together and enjoy!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed some of my tips for a great quarantined Halloween and I also hope that you're staying safe in these strange times. As someone who loves and adores Halloween, I can honestly say that though I am upset in seeing so many people who have even cancelled their plans to decorate their home, but I am glad in the amount of people who aren't going out partying and deciding to stay home and protect their community. Have a great Halloween and make sure you're not getting the scariest thing of 2020 by keeping you and your loved ones safe and staying indoors. Just be glad you're not staying in the house from the conclusion heading picture!