Halloween looks different for everyone this year, but Spirit Halloween made sure our patients in the hospital could still celebrate one of their favorite holidays.

Through the Spirit of Children program, they shipped Halloween care packages complete with costumes and activity books to the hospital, which our team members delivered to patient rooms this morning.

This was in lieu of their traditional approach of hosting a party at the hospital with pumpkin painting and costume distribution, which was not possible with COVID-related visitation restrictions and cancelations of on-site gatherings.

“Spirit usually brings Halloween to kids in the hospital in the form of our biggest and most anticipated party of the year,” said Heather Rossi, senior child life specialist at CHoR. “That wasn’t possible this year due to COVID-19, but they still came through in a big way to help our patients have some holiday fun, forget about medical treatments for a bit and just enjoy being kids – despite being in the hospital on Halloween.”

Since 2007, Spirit of Children has raised more than $619,727 for our child life program. Proceeds have supported the expansion of child life services, improving the patient experience and easing the stress of being in the hospital. Child life specialists support patients and families during medical procedures and provide age-appropriate activities to help kids meet medical goals and have fun. They also help educate kids about what’s happening and teach them coping skills for the hard things they may experience.

While Spirit Halloween helps outfit people and places for one of the “scariest holidays,” their support of our child life program makes the hospital less frightful for kids and families on Halloween and all year round.

Learn more about child life at CHoR and watch a video of last year’s Halloween party.