This Man Invented a “Candy Chute” to Help Keep Trick or Treating Going

I don’t know from firsthand experience, but I would hazard a guess that 2020 hasn’t been the easiest year for parents. Between virtual schooling and keeping kids entertained while so often cooped up inside, the pandemic has piled on some serious stress. With Halloween approaching, families are faced with even more anxiety about how to handle socially distanced trick or treating in the midst of a pandemic that’ll probably get worse before it gets better.

Thankfully, there’s one man out there who’s seemingly developed an ingenious idea that might just make Halloween a bit more feasible in 2020: the candy chute.

It’s deviously simple: essentially, Andrew Beattie put together a six foot-long Halloween-colored tube that can attach to a handrail to sort of just slide candy to eager trick or treaters with the barest minimum of human contact. As Beattie’s caption (with clarifying updates) suggests, the purpose of the candy chute is to slide factory-sealed candy out of a gloved hand (or perhaps tongs) directly into the waiting bag or bucket of a socially distanced trick or treater, using gravity and a little directional guidance to make it work.

Based on Beattie’s description of the construction process, the candy chute sure seems like the kind of simple DIY project that many folks can make at home. Designed from what he describes as “throwaway materials,” specifically a 6’ x 4” cardboard shipping tube that can attach to a railing.

While candy companies are already providing their own guidance for October 31, the candy chute could be clutch for those who want to maintain some semblance of a normal Halloween while following current health and safety guidelines. After all, it doesn’t matter how the candy gets to trick or treaters as long as they’re safely having fun.