The six-month sweep of the coronavirus has taken another thing away from most people, Halloween.

Yet some Country Day students won’t let the virus get in the way of celebrating their favorite holiday. 

Senior Olivia Chilelli is one of them.

She and her friends are dressing as characters from the popular video game Among Us, but they will not be going trick-or-treating.

“I’m going to be the yellow character, and my friends are going to be all the colors they usually use,” she said.

“We found the costume idea after my friend saw it on TikTok and thought it was great because the characters already have masks on them.”

Chilelli bought her costume through Amazon and is still waiting for it to come. 

She plans to celebrate the day of Halloween with her friends by carving pumpkins or going to a local park to hang out. 

Chilelli also plans to decorate her house despite the lack of spirit in her neighborhood.

“My parents aren’t heavy decorators, but I love decorating,” Chilelli said. “I buy them with my own money, but I don’t know what I’m going to get this year.”

For senior Avinash Krishna, going out isn’t worth the risk.

“I don’t want to be complicit in those activities,” he said. “The CDC said this is one of the best ways to spread the virus, so I won’t be taking part in the holiday this year.”

Krishna said there was a slight possibility he would go out if he developed antibodies by contracting the virus, but believes it’s very unlikely.

He wasn’t going to dress as anything specific, but was going to try a lot harder this year because he didn’t wear anything last year.

Saying there was no purpose, Krishna decided not to do anything on Zoom.

“I really wanted to hang out with friends,” Krishna said. “The social aspect is like no other on Halloween. I would do it through Zoom, but you don’t get that genuineness and social aspect like you do in person.”

He plans to carve pumpkins with his family this year, but he won’t put up decorations like usual.

Krishna has decided to work around the situation, hosting a Halloween themed game of Among Us with his school friends.

Junior Lilah Shorey decided that she wasn’t going out, but still wants to celebrate the holiday by dressing up.

“This is my favorite holiday,” she said. “It’s the only time of year I can dress up as someone and go crazy, and no one will really judge me for it. I enjoy it, and just because there’s a pandemic, that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop celebrating my favorite holiday,” Shorey said.

Shorey said she was indecisive and decided to wear two costumes this year: Ted from Bill and Ted, and Darth Maul from Star Wars.

“I wanted to be Ted because the movie is hilarious, and it’s a great group costume for my friend (junior Sicily Schroder) and me,” Shorey said.

Shorey said she got the Darth Maul robe from the Evangeline’s Costume Mansion on 113 K St, Sacramento, but will be doing Maul’s makeup by herself. 

For the Bill and Ted costume, Shorey will be using things she has gotten from thrift shopping.   

She might watch movies with friends while keeping a safe social distance, but will definitely be carving pumpkins, she said. 

Shorey is also going to provide candy to her neighbors, but to keep safe, she will refuse anyone who doesn’t have a mask and will try to stay a table’s length away from everyone.

As for decorating, Shorey goes all out.

“I do a ton of decorating,” Shorey said. “Just this weekend we bought some spider webs, hanging mummies, two giant blow-up cats, skeletons coming out of the ground and gravestones.”

Sophomore Haylee Holman isn’t allowed to go out because of her parents’ concern for her safety. 

“It’s super depressing not being able to celebrate Halloween this year with my friends,” Holman said. “We don’t do much, but I was still looking forward to it.” 

This year, Holman was also going to be an Among Us character, but she wasn’t sure which one. 

Holman doesn’t usually decorate and has decided to skip on carving a pumpkin this year.

There is a chance her parents would allow her to go out, but it’s very slim, she said.

“I could go to a friend’s house who I’ve seen a couple of times this summer, but that still wouldn’t make up for everything,” Holman said.

For senior Allie Bogetich, Halloween is a must, even if it’s a little different this year.

“I don’t go trick or treating anyway, so my friends and I are trying to figure out a way to safely hangout, eat candy and play Mario Kart together,” she said. 

To bring cheer, Bogetich is going to dress up as an inflatable dinosaur and make dinosaur sugar cookies for her neighbors.

She chose the costume due to its built in mask along with it fitting in with the dinosaur cookie theme.

“I take Halloween very seriously,” she said. “I like to do  Halloween themed baking so everything is going to be pumpkin flavored.”

— By Jacob Chand

Originally published in the Oct. 20 edition of the Octagon.