Chutes, cannons and other ways to give out Halloween candy

So here's a roundup of some fun ideas that provide a little distance for homeowners wanting to give out candy this year.

Posted 1:04 p.m. Oct 26, 2021 — Updated 1:30 p.m. Oct 26, 2021

Kathy Hanrahan

, WRAL lifestyle editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — Last year, some people got creative with how they gave out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters. It was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and we all wanted to have some fun but do it safely.

Some people used PVC pipes to create candy chutes down their porch railings. It helped provide some distance between the trick-or-treater and the homeowners, plus it is fun to watch a Snickers bar get sent through a chute into your bag.

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With children under 12 still not eligible to be vaccinated, some families are looking for alternative ways to give out candy this year. I have 2 and 9-year-olds. I am not ready to bring the toddler out for trick-or-treat. We have a hard enough time taking a family walk! Trick-or treat would take hours just to get down our street.

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I do want to give out candy but don't want to expose my toddler to all of the people coming to our door, so I started looking up alternative ideas for candy distribution.

Here's the ideas I found (listed with easiest to accomplish first and then most elaborate last):

Make candy bags

You can set up a table at the end of your driveway with bags of individually wrapped candy. My mom did this last year and it made things really easy. They could sit back from the table and kids could just pick up a bag with several pieces of candy stuffed inside of it. Quick, easy and only requires you to make the bags ahead of time.

Build your own candy chute

There are some DIY instructions you can find online. There is also a video embedded below that shows you how to make one of these chutes or slides.

I really like this one that someone did last year. It was placed on the second floor of the house and featured lights wrapped around it. The candy was dropped into a bucket below for children to take.

Or you could be SUPER EXTRA and build this one that reminds me of a bank drive-thru window.

Build a candy cannon

Who doesn't love the idea of a box of Nerds flying through the air after being shot out of a cannon? Think of this like a T-shirt cannon at sporting events. Here are some instructions to build your own.

Build a robot to give out the candy for you

This is a great idea if you are a mad scientist up for a challenge. A man in Texas actually did this last year . He was a robotics enthusiast who had started building his robot, Arty, eight years prior. He started out with LEGO bricks and a Roomba.

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