ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Not much is cuter than a cute kid in a costume.
What's not so great to see is sick children not being able to dress up or have fun doing typical Halloween things. Which is where the staff at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital really decided to step in and make a difference.
There were superheroes. There was a cheetah and a giraffe. And plenty of unicorns.
And I'm not just referring to the young patients here. Staff were dressed up and in the spirit just as much as the kids.
PHOTOS: Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital hosts special 'reverse' trick-or-treat for patients
"When a child is in the hospital, they're not able to do the typical trick-or-treat thing within their neighborhood," said Rayna Tanis, a certified child life specialist at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. "So by bringing reverse trick-or-treating in the hospital and having staff dress up and get really excited, and having the music and the candy and the prizes, we wanted to make it not be so much of a bummer that they can't do Halloween at home or in their neighborhood by bringing it here."
Even a service dog got in on the festivities!
What was the most important part of the day, however, was that there were plenty of smiles. In particular, children who were unable to attend trick-or-treating in their own neighborhoods.
"[Lauren] was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in March 2016, and she finished treatment and she recently relapsed three weeks ago," her mom Shawna Glynn said, "I think it's great that they make the kids feel like part of the holiday. You know they can't go out, so even if we wanted to, her immune system is nonexistent, so we couldn't go out in our neighborhood. So it's nice that everyone can come to her."
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