Halloween Safety Tips

Children love Halloween and they love to be scared. They enjoy getting dressed up and going from house to house for their "trick or treating" candies. However, being scared in a fictional, non-threatening way is one thing; being scared of a real-life threat is another, and this is definitely not the goal for our children on Halloween.

Listed below are a few Halloween safety tips that we can follow to protect our kids, while letting them enjoy being scared in a safe, fun way:

Check to see if your town or neighborhood is hosting trick-or-treat in a safe place, such as a mall. Some areas do this, and it's a great way for the kids to avoid going to strange houses, while still getting to experience all the fun.
If the kids will be traveling in a residential area, let them know that they should only trick-or-treat at well-lit homes, and when they approach a house to ask for treats, they should remain on the porches, or outside the door. They should never enter anyone's house, even if the adult asks them to.
Make sure that at least one adult travels with any group of kids who are going from house to house in a neighborhood.
If your kids don't have cell phones, but you do, make an exception for this one night, and let them take the cell phone with them, so they can call if there's trouble. If no one has a cell phone, give them a few quarters, along with a note containing phone numbers to call in an emergency.
Attach a note inside your kids' costumes with a safety pin, that includes their names, home phones, and addresses.
Remind your children that they should never, ever eat any of the treats until after they get home, so you can inspect the treats first for any signs of tampering.
If the kids will be carrying around any kind of prop, such as a knife, ax, or sword, ensure that it is fake of course, and that it is flexible and has rounded tips. We don't want the props to cause injury to our kids or anyone else!
Make sure every child carries a flashlight or glowstick at all times.
Remind kids that they should always be careful when crossing a street, and they should only do so in crosswalks, if they exist.
Stress to them that they should never leave their group to wander off by themselves.
When decorating your home for trick-or-treaters, try to avoid using candles at all, but if you do use them, be sure to place them far away from where kids will be, to ensure their costumes don't catch fire accidentally.
Whether you make or buy a costume for your child, make sure the fabric is fire-retardant, and test any masks to ensure that your child can see clearly through the eye holes, and can breathe easily. In addition, be sure that the material isn't too long, because we don't want them tripping over a costume while crossing a street.
Finally, it's great to involve the kids in the preparations, and kids especially like to help carve pumpkins. (What kid doesn't love playing with the squishy innards?) We don't want to deny them the pleasure of getting creative, but don't let them use real knives. No matter how careful they are, the act of carving a pumpkin makes it extremely likely that a knife will slip and cut someone. Luckily, nearly every department store or dollar store sells pumpkin carving kits that are safe for everyone to use, and the prices are generally very cheap, so be sure to pick up a few.

Make Halloween fun and safe for your children by following simple "Halloween safety tips for kids" and help your kids carry on this wonderful tradition.