East coast adapts Halloween to Sandy

Halloween will come a little late for some this year, thanks to Superstorm Sandy, which has left many neighborhoods along the East Coast littered with debris from shattered homes, downed trees and power lines, creating unsafe conditions for revelers and trick-or-treaters.

The situation in New Jersey is so severe that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order on Wednesday postponing Halloween celebrations across the state until Monday.

"I've taken this action to minimize additional risks to lives and the public safety as we begin the process of rebuilding and recovering from Hurricane Sandy," Christie said. "In too many communities in our state, the damage and losses from this storm are still being sorted out, and dangerous conditions abound even as our emergency management and response officials continue their work."

Elsewhere, residents in parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut have been asked to hold off on trick-or-treating, and parades have been postponed or canceled, including New York's annual Village Halloween Party, which the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management and the New York Police Department canceled for the first time in 39 years.

"We hope that everyone who would have come to the parade is safe, and that those who can volunteer to help out at one of the Emergency Outreach Centers near you," the parade's organizers said in a statement.

But for some, the celebrations will still go on, especially for residents of the outer boroughs who were planning to attend the Village Halloween Party.

"We were already planning on having a party," said Brooklyn resident Adam Scher. "But now that nobody can get into Manhattan we are really having a party."

Scher and his business partner will hold court for friends in the office of their public relations firm in Clinton Hill.

"People need something to do tonight. Everyone has been cooped up inside for the past four days, and nobody has anywhere to go or anything to do, so why not provide them with some fun celebratory festivities!" he said.

With many areas still without power or experiencing intermittent outages, information was scattershot and hard to come by, leaving many to improvise or source information through social media.

Colleen Napoli of Wantagh, New York, is posting updates on Facebook to alert friends who don't have power in their homes but can check their smartphones. The town of Hempstead, where she lives, has asked residents to postpone trick-or-treating until Saturday, and a parade in nearby Huntington has been canceled.

"So does this mean I can keep eating my candy?" one friend posted on her wall.

"Keep eating and buy more for Saturday," she said.

Instead, the married mother of five said she will carve pumpkins with her children and make Halloween decorations. The weather is supposed to be nice on Saturday, anyway, she said.

"When it comes to Halloween it is all about the kids, and keeping them safe should be the number one priority. While they may be disappointed to have to wait, it is better to be safe," she said.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. The change in plans has brought neighbors together as they've been forced to improvise.

For Lia Mariscal and her family in Hoboken, New Jersey, that meant Halloween actually arrived a little early this year. Her 13-floor, 70-unit apartment building was still without power Tuesday and surrounded by a couple of feet of water.

"Our building is full of bored trapped kids," she said. To keep them busy, everyone gathered in the lobby and played board games on Tuesday. Later in the day, the children dressed up in their costumes and went trick-or-treating in the building, she said.

"Some of the families had not gotten a chance to get candy so they improvised," she said in a Facebook message.

For many New York families, who typically trick-or-treat in large apartment buildings, the show will go on, with perhaps a greater sense of urgency after having the kids cooped up at home for days.

"The big question is whether residents will have candy to give out," said Rebecca Levey, a mother of three who lives on the Upper West Side. "Many people didn't prepare before the storm and others have eaten it already."

Luckily, her children's school held its annual "harvest festival" on Saturday, so they had a chance to celebrate in full regalia before hunkering down for the storm.

"Compared to what other people are going through, we're very fortunate," she said. "But the kids are still going stir-crazy so we need to find ways to keep them busy."

In urban communities that weren't hit as hard as coastal areas, the biggest issue has been keeping the kids occupied. Because she's had to stay home for four days, Jee Won Park finally met her neighbors after living in her building for a year and a half.

Thanks to one mother in the building -- "there's always one mom who organizes for all the other mommies" -- families have been taking turns hosting events and gatherings so the load is spread out among several families. Since Monday, there have been group playdates, a pancake party, movie sessions and even (this being New York) a yoga class.

"Because of the nature of my job, I have not been around very much, so been it's great to meet the other mommies, and they're all these terrific, amazing woman with great kids," said Park, director of communications for Danny Meyer hospitality group.

"It's taken me a year and a half and a hurricane," she said. "They said, 'We never even knew you actually had a kid.' "