Halloween can be a chilly night, but Laramie kids have the chance to get inside for fun, games and lots of candy thanks to the Safe Treat event at the University of Wyoming.
The Wyoming Union will be the site of the main attraction, with several other locations on campus hosting their own branches.
“Safe Treat is a fun way for UW students to get involved with the community for Halloween,” Union associate and lead organizer for Safe Treat, Bailey Quick, said. “It’s a safe place, during daytime hours, for younger kids to come play games, do different things with college students, get lots of candy—it’s just kind of a fun thing all around.”
More than 40 Recognized Student Organizations will be present at the Union Tuesday from 4:00 to 6:00, spread throughout the halls and offices of the first and basement floors, to facilitate a wide variety of activities, including meeting the demand for plenty of sweet Halloween loot.
Beginning at 3:00 and lasting until 5:00, the Buchanan Center will also host Safe Treat events. Free parking can be found in the Union Parking Lot after 3:00.
“The whole thing starts at the Buchanan Center,” Quick said. “We did decide to advertise it all together as one, we didn’t want to compete with each other. It’s a good thing that we are all combined this year.”
The long list of clubs and groups runs the gamut from the College Republicans to about a dozen fraternities and sororities to the aptly named group, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Students will be facilitating ball tosses, fishing for candy, pumpkin golf, bowling, a life-sized game of Operation and many more attractions.
Those who venture away from the Union and the Buchanan Center will find additional Safe Treat destinations at the Washakie basement, hosted by Residence Life and Dining, from 5:00 to 7:00 and on Fraternity and Sorority Row from 4:00 to 6:00.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Master of Misery Haunted House will also be open again for Halloween night from 6:00 to 7:00 for children and families, with the proceeds from $5 tickets going to the Laramie Cathedral Home for Children. After that time, rowdier crowds of college students are welcome.
True to the name of Safe Treat, parents and guardians can be especially confident that there is no funny business going on with the candy going into their kids’ bags and/or buckets, as much of the candy will be provided by the Union directly and the rest by individual RSOs. UWPD will be also present to keep an eye on things.
A recent article has made the rounds on social media criticizing children who are not of Polynesian Islander heritage dressing up as Moana, from the Disney film of the same name, but parents and guardians whose children want to emulate the adventurous heroine shouldn’t worry about such strictures.
“Kids can dress up as whatever they want,” Quick said. “That’s the fun of Halloween, you can be whatever you want for a day.”
