Halloween is right around the corner, and while it may look different this year, it is still important to celebrate the good times! Having festivities and exciting events to look forward to helps create some much-needed normalcy in an ever-changing world. For many families, Halloween marks the start of the holiday season and a transition to focusing on and celebrating the things in our lives for which we are grateful.

However, as we continue to navigate this COVID-conscious world, many people may be unsure of how to celebrate our favorite traditions safely. SmileMakers is here to help you get the fun started with some ideas on how to enjoy good company and some seasonal celebrations with your community.

Drive-Thru Trick or Treating Route

A great way to get other local businesses involved is to set up a drive-thru trick-or-treating route. This boosts community awareness of local businesses and encourages networking among other business owners that you may not normally have a chance to interact with. Give them a call and see if they’d be interested in working together to create some fun for the families in your community.

Cars can pull right up to a door or window (if space allows) or they could park in a designated spot in the parking lot to signal a member of the team to come out and hand the driver a goodie bag. If you are the first stop on the route, you could hand families a map outlining the participating businesses to drive to, making it seem like a fun scavenger hunt.

Host a “Trunk or Treat” Socially-Distanced Party

Another option is to host your own “Trunk-or-Treat” party in your parking lot. Participants can park a safe distance away from others, decorate the trunk or back of their car to their desired theme, and hand out pre-packed goodie bags to trick-or-treaters. Encourage participants to still wear a protective mask under their costumes and keep their distance while walking around.

 Offer Contactless Goodie Bags

Whether you host a Trunk-or-Treat or a Halloween drive-thru, it’s a good idea to make your own treat bags for a no-touch reward. You can easily put them in a basket or bucket so patients can grab their own bag to lessen the chance of contamination. SmileMakers has all the Halloween goodies you need for a stellar goodie-bag that even the greediest goblins will love, including: 

• Halloween Bags
• Custom or Scatter Print Toothbrushes
• Individually-Wrapped Toys
• Sticker Packs
• Halloween Duckies
• Character Bendables
• And More!

Encourage Dental Health for Trick or Treaters

After eating treats and partaking in some well-deserved festivities, it’s important to remind your patients to care for their smiles. One way to do this is to hand out teeth brushing reminder stickers as a part of your goodie bags. You can also send out recall cards along with a fun sticker to remind patients to get their teeth checked after eating all that candy. Parents will appreciate you reinforcing and encouraging good habits, and kiddos will love to proudly sport a cute, colorful sticker for a brushing job well done.

SmileMakers Is Here for You

No matter the season, SmileMakers has your back. It is always our goal to help make running your practice a little easier and as fun as possible. Whether it’s making it simple to restock supplies and patient rewards, or helping generate ideas on how to create a thriving patient community, we are happy to help in any way we can. Feel free to reach out anytime by visiting us at SmileMakers.com and let us know how we can be of service.