We didn't want to do this in a parking lot.

If you've ever taken a kid who uses a wheelchair to a trunk-or-treat, you already know why.

The asphalt is uneven. There are curbs with no cuts in them. It's dark, it's cold, because it's Colorado on the last night of October, and cars are moving in the same space as the kids. There's nowhere to sit down. There's nowhere to change a child who needs changing. And when a kid has had enough, which happens, there's nowhere to go except back to your own car.

So most of the families we know do one of two things on Halloween. They tough it out for fifteen minutes and go home, or they skip it entirely and hand out candy at their own door while other people's kids have the night.

We wanted to build the other option.

So we're doing it indoors.

One building. Warm, lit, level floors, and doors wide enough for a wheelchair and a parent side by side. Kids go table to table collecting candy the same way they would go house to house, except nobody has to cross a parking lot to get there and nobody runs out of energy halfway down the block.

There's a calm corner with the lights down, so a kid who gets overwhelmed can reset for ten minutes and come back instead of the night being over. Every table is asked to offer at least one non-food treat, because plenty of our kids can't have candy at all and they should still get to pick something. Costumes are encouraged and completely optional, because for some of our kids a costume is the best part and for others it's the thing that makes the whole night impossible.

Nobody is going to look sideways at your kid. That's the entire point.

And while the kids collect candy, the parents get something too.

Every table belongs to a local provider or organization. Pediatric therapy practices, dentists who know how to work with our kids, respite programs, adaptive equipment, advocacy groups, and school district staff.

If you've tried to find a provider who genuinely understands disability, you know it mostly happens through other parents, in Facebook groups, one recommendation at a time. This puts fifteen of them in one room on one night. You can have five real conversations in an hour, while your kid is busy being delighted, and you don't have to make a single phone call to do it.

The details

Saturday, October 31, 2026 · 6:00 to 9:30 PM · Douglas County Libraries: Parker · Free for every family · Register Online

All Treats, No Tricks: Sensory Friendly Halloween 2026

A Sensory-Friendly Trick or Treat For Everyone