Halloween Safety Tips

Halloween is a fun time at any age. I love the change of seasons, with the leaves changing and the temperate cooling. It is even more fun when you have children. My son becomes excited for next year’s Halloween the day after this year’s Halloween is finished. Decorating the house, costumes, tricks, and treats are all part of the excitement. An important aspect of Halloween that is often overlooked is safety.

Although you may have taught your children basic street smarts, Halloween requires a greater level of instruction. Below I will outline some of the best Halloween safety practices to go over with your children. These tips will allow your child to have fun while being safe.

Safety Tip 1- Be Aware.

It is crucial to let your children know that although people are friendlier on Halloween, they are still strangers and need to be treated as such. Remind your child that although these people most likely are friendly, that they are still strangers. Your children should still exert caution when speaking and interacting with adults that they do not know. I go with my son trick or treating still and probably will let him start going on his own in the next few years. That being said it is important no matter how old your child is to go in a group of friends he can trust.

Safety Tip 2- Keep Warm While Trick Or Treating.

Many costumes are made out of inexpensive materials that do not provide very much warmth. Yet the end of October can be extremely chilly, if not downright cold. That is why if your child is going out trick or treating it is important to layer them up in warm clothing. Although your child may think that it detracts from the overall look of their costume, they will be glad for the warmth once they get out there. Gloves and hats may even be necessary, but it is easy to make that look like part of their costume.

Safety Tip 3- Make Costumes Visible.

It is a good idea to make sure that your child’s costume can be seen in the dark. A neat idea I have seen is glow in the dark and reflective taping on costumes and treat bags. Giving your child a flashlight can also help to make themselves visible to drivers when crossing the street after dark on Halloween.

Safety Tip 4- Candy Inspection Station.

Getting candy is certainly a sweet bonus of Halloween, but exercising a bit of caution is necessary to keep your children safe. I never let my children eat any candy that they have been given out without inspecting it first. Although the likelihood of someone tampering with the candy that they handout is fairly low, I don’t want to take any chances when I could have possibly prevented anything from happening. This is especially important for parents of children who suffer from allergies. Make sure to check the label for peanuts, wheat, or dairy if your child is allergic or sensitive to them. I also look for candy that may have small hard to chew pieces and bubblegum (my children are too young to chew gum unsupervised).

Safety Tip 5- Limit Candy Per Day!

I let my kids eat more candy than normal on Halloween night, but it pretty much stops there. Having a great increase in sugar in their daily diets is not good, and at this age they certainly don’t need it. I try to give them one or two treats a day for a week or so and then I donate the rest or put it in the freezer. This is a safety measure somewhat for my own diet as well, because it can be very easy to be tempted to eat additional sweets if they are in the house. That is why depending on your self-control level you donate or give away the extra candy for your family’s health.

Now I believe Halloween should be fun of course and sometimes I do not do so well with step 5, but I do try!

How do you help to keep your children safe while partaking in Halloween activities?