Halloween Safety Tips — Happy Trick or Treating!

How To Have a Fun and Safe Hal­loween Night
As par­ents, we have been bom­bard­ed for at least a month on which Hal­loween cos­tumes to buy, and which treats to give out. You may have already done the “Haunt­ed House” dec­o­ra­tions on your home. But have you con­sid­ered all the safe­ty pre­cau­tions?
As cos­tumes get more elab­o­rate and expen­sive we still need to ask if they meet safe­ty stan­dards. In fact, there are many things we need to con­sid­er before send­ing the kids out for some good old-fash­ioned Trick or Treat­ing!
It’s great to have such real­is­tic and scary cos­tumes avail­able for pur­chase now. But it’s impor­tant to keep some safe­ty top of mind. A big part of safe­ty is being seen, so if pos­si­ble pick light coloured cos­tumes and attach reflec­tive tape in var­i­ous parts of the cos­tume and on bags the kids will be car­ry­ing. Glow sticks and flash­lights are also a great idea. There will be cars on the road, it helps immense­ly if dri­vers can see the kids.
The abil­i­ty of your kids to be able to see is also impor­tant. So, if pos­si­ble avoid masks or cos­tumes that impair vision. Choose face paint as an alter­na­tive. While it may be use­ful for kids to car­ry a cell phone for emer­gen­cies, it’s impor­tant the device be tucked away in a secure pock­et. Too many dis­trac­tions increase dan­ger. Kids need to be alert when cross­ing the streets etc. Show them how to make eye con­tact with dri­vers before cross­ing at inter­sec­tions when cars are present.
We all know every “hol­i­day” is expen­sive when you are a par­ent. We under­stand that “hand me down” cos­tumes are great ways to man­age a house­hold bud­get. But make sure the cos­tume prop­er­ly fits the kids, with no loose parts that could cause a fall or vision impair­ment. It’s also best to avoid pro­vid­ing young­sters with poten­tial weapons, like plas­tic swords etc. Keep it sim­ple.
Plan­ning a route is also essen­tial for a fun and safe night. When you plan, you can min­i­mize the num­ber of street cross­ings. Avoid­ing dart­ing back and forth across streets. Com­plete one side of a street, cross at an inter­sec­tion, then come back and do the oth­er side. It’s best to choose neigh­bour­hoods close to home and famil­iar. Kids under 10 should have adult super­vi­sion, and the bud­dy sys­tem helps immense­ly. Work with your neigh­bours to spell each oth­er off etc. It can be a great way to uni­fy the neigh­bour­hood.
When you head out, leave your pets at home. Pets are a huge dis­trac­tion to kids and adults. The cos­tumes and scary dec­o­ra­tions can also be star­tling for dogs as well. It’s best to leave Fido safe­ly at home. If you encounter ani­mals while you are out, it’s best to leave them alone. They may not be kid friend­ly and may also be spooked by the cos­tumes and nois­es etc.
At Your home, turn on all your out­door lights, it helps keep your street and neigh­bour­hood safe. It also sends a sig­nal that you are wel­com­ing the Trick or Treaters! Don’t for­get to teach your kids how to iden­ti­fy homes that are open for busi­ness. A lit Jack O’ Lantern on the step or in the win­dow is a sure sign, avoid hous­es that are dark and unlit. Kids should nev­er go inside a strangers’ home, can­dy should be dis­trib­uted through the door on or on the front porch. If not, leave and move on.

If you can avoid dri­ving on the evening of Hal­loween, please do so, the few­er cars on the road the bet­ter. But if you must dri­ve, slow down! Try to avoid neigh­bour­hood streets when pos­si­ble, and keep your eyes peeled for rogue kids walk­ing and run­ning. Make sure your run­ning lights are on and leave your cell phone off and turn off your radio to reduce noise. You just can­not pre­dict when a child may be dis­tract­ed and run out. Keep all eyes and ears focused on dri­ving!
While you may be cre­ative, and per­haps a great bak­er, save those tal­ents for your fam­i­ly and friends. For Hal­loween choose store bought indi­vid­u­al­ly wrapped, nut free, treats. This makes it much eas­i­er for par­ents to sort through the bun­dle of good­ies that comes home with the kids. If you find a home­made treat or items with open or bro­ken pack­ages, throw it in the garbage. When some­thing has obvi­ous­ly been tam­pered with, put it in a safe place, and prompt­ly noti­fy the police.
If you are dec­o­rat­ing your home, avoid using real can­dles or tea lights, bat­tery pow­ered options are much safer. If you must use can­dles, make sure they are secure­ly placed, and nowhere kids may come into con­tact. Many cos­tumes and Hal­loween dec­o­ra­tions are high­ly flam­ma­ble, so avoid­ing any poten­tial con­tact with can­dles is essen­tial. Octo­ber is also Fire Safe­ty Month!
The final chal­lenge for a great Hal­loween expe­ri­ence is for par­ents to avoid the temp­ta­tion to raid the kids loot after the kids are final­ly in bed! Enjoy this fun fam­i­ly time.