Photo by Yuval Shachar

The infamous house on Tilden Lane lives up and exceeds all expectations, and provides us with spooky decorations. As Halloween is drawing near, many people have started decorating their houses to be as scary and festive as possible.

Spooky season is upon us, and what better way to have fun than to go to a pumpkin patch or do other fall-like activities with friends. Although we are in the middle of a global pandemic, there are still many fun COVID-safe fall activities available.

With fall comes frosty weather, to make the house feel and smell more cozy many people light candles to chase away the autumn chills. What better candles to use than homemade ones? Although this activity is a little pricey, the outcome is a cute candle with a fun scent. Lifenreflection has a very detailed and easy to follow “recipe” for the perfect pumpkin spice candles.

If you’re craving something sweet to eat or want to surprise your family with a cute treat, candy apples are the way to go. Favorite family recipes have a great and easy to make candy apple recipe.

Halloween is right around the corner and, although trick or treating is not a good idea this year, you can still decorate your house and make it festive. Whether you go for the traditional pumpkins and spooky spider web decoration, or simply decide to add some decorations for fall, decorating your house is a super fun activity to do.

If you enjoy getting your hands a little dirty by creating a great halloween decoration, pumpkin carving is for you. You can make your pumpkin have whatever face you want, or you can carve something else into it such as a cat or a witch, but that might be a little trickier to do.

“I carved one last year with my brother. It turned out really bad, but I liked it a lot,” sophomore Yael Rotman said.

A lot of people enjoy being outdoors more than indoors. Even with the pandemic going on, there are still plenty of outdoor activities to take part in. Some examples include picking pumpkins, hiking, going on picnics and having bonfires.

Many fall festivals are open and many of the activities such as pumpkin picking are still open and safe. Mary’s Maze and Butler’s Orchard are both open, though you might have to reserve tickets in advance. Both these fall festivals have pumpkin patches where you can pick the perfect pumpkin to take home.

“Two years ago, my mom’s aunt from New York took us to a pumpkin patch in Long Island where she lives, and we went there, it was fun… It was my first year in the US, and it was really exciting to see all of this, because I had never seen pumpkins, pumpkins in a patch before,” junior Neta Shacham said.

The weather is a little colder now, but it is still idealr for hiking or biking. Some beautiful trails in the area that are less than 4 miles long include Cabin John Regional Park trails, Bucklodge Conservation park, and Little Falls Trail.

Picnics and bonfires are also a great choice. The bonfire will heat you up from the cold and the picnic will keep your stomach full. Whether you’re roasting marshmallows or just telling stories, bonfires and picnics are bound to be fun activities to do.

Another exciting fall activity to do with friends or family is apple picking. Waters Orchard is open for apple picking, with about 18 different types of apples ready to be picked.

“I love apple picking, it’s so much fun, I mean obviously you can fall, which is scary, but it’s really really fun and it’s just a good activity for doing stuff with your friends,” sophomore Natalie Zaid said.

A cliche, but also an all time favorite, is raking and jumping into leaf piles. This is a fun way to clean your yard and enjoy the fall weather with friends or family. But make sure nobody is hiding inside of the pile when you jump into it!

Although being stuck at home due to coronavirus is challenging, there are still things to do either with friends or family that don’t put you or your loved ones at risk of catching this virus and are bound to entertain.