SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Less than two weeks before Halloween, people across the country are getting creative and building candy chutes in hopes of a safer version of door-to-door trick-or-treating.
In the yard of the Witthoft home in Lakeside, California, a large display stands in testament to a four-decade old family tradition of Halloween fright.
"We love Halloween. It's a fun holiday, a scary holiday. Seeing people dressed up. It's a lot of fun," said Chris Witthoft.
Witthoft says part of that fun is handing out candy. That tradition, like so many things this year, is wrapped in uncertainty because of the pandemic.
"We've done it for so long. Just don't want to let the kids down," said Witthoft.
So, Witthoft and her family decided to build their own solution: two candy chutes created from PVC pipes and then painted. Witthoft and other family members will push the candy down the chute, staying six feet from the kids.
"All of us will have gloves and masks on, with social distancing circles along our fence," said Witthoft.
Witthoft says the line to get to the candy will be socially distanced, while the chute and nearby areas will be constantly wiped down.
To the west, in Rolando Village, Amberosia Vivar has designs on her own candy slide.
"Will make it out of PVC pipe ... It brings a little excitement for families stuck inside for months. I know my kids have been looking forward to Halloween for months," said Vivar.
Across social media, KGTV has seen countless examples of San Diegans creating similar candy chutes, but is it safe? County guidelines recommend against any door-to-door trick-or-treating, a chief concern is kids congregating to get the candy. That "congregating" is also a potential issue with the candy chutes. It's something the Witthofts and Vivar say they'll be watching out for.
"We can remind the kids, remind the families, maintain your distance," said Vivar.
"We want to be as safe as possible but still want to carry on our tradition for the kids," said Witthoft.
This story was originally published by Michael Chen at KGTV.
