Woodbury woman unveils safe way to give out candy during trick-or-treating - KSTP

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But 9-year old Adria Hoen says she’s prepared for a fun but safe trick-or-treat outing.

"Well, they say I have to social distance a lot and we have to keep our masks on all the time,” she said.

So while surfing the internet, Bryan came up with an idea.

"We really wanted something different, for parents who maybe weren't comfortable with their kids going door to door,” she said. “We thought this would be a fun spin.”

With about 20 feet of PVC pipe, the force of gravity and a little bit of ingenuity, Bryan and her husband built a no-contact candy chute.

"We actually have a second-story window that looks straight down on our porch,” she said.

The pipe is positioned in that window, held in place by several throw pillows. It’s an easy matter to pop a small candy bar into the pipe, and down it goes.

For young trick-or-treaters, it’s easier than a video game.

"We have a situation where you can push the little button, it alerts inside,” Bryan said.

That tone, which plays in a front entryway downstairs, lets the Bryans know when it’s time to toss some candy down the chute.

"And the candy will come down right into a kid's bag, no contact, don't have to even see each other,” Bryan said. “There is parental control. We'll be upstairs watching and to make sure if they don't realize they're supposed to push the button, we can manually push it down, or it has someone a little over-excited."

Just down the street, Goosens is trying a more low-tech approach.

Neatly-arranged rows of juice boxes are set up in a table in his garage. When the time is right, he’ll set the table out by the street, away from others.

"We figured we'd just set a table out, keep it isolated, and put a bunch of — we usually do juice boxes,” Goosens said.

But what about the candy wrappers? Any concern about that? Adria says she’s on it.

"I would rather wipe it, like wipe the wrappers down,” she said.

Turns out the neighborhood in Woodbury’s Liberty Trail area got pretty busy.

Most trick-or-treaters stayed in family bubbles or small groups. Many wore masks, even under their costumes.

The Bryans say they started with 300 pieces of candy at their house. At last check, there were only a few left, on a Halloween night where everyone is learning ways to stay safe.

“Our kids are going to be going out tonight,” Bryan says. “We're going to be safe distancing as much as possible."