Safety Tips: Halloween

The trick-or-treaters of today now have the modern challenge of safety to consider. Here are some tips to keep your little villagers safe on Halloween:

• If you are driving Halloween night, be on the lookout for trick-or-treaters. Use extreme caution and drive slowly.
• Consider a Halloween party at home or attend a well-planned, local event instead of trick-or-treating. These are much safer alternatives.
• When planning to go trick-or-treating, think carefully about your route and timetable before departing.
• Try to choose streets that make a collective neighborhood effort for Halloween by lighting and decorating homes in a way that safely welcomes visitors. Do not approach homes that are unlit.
• Be sure an adult accompanies children at all times.
• Carry flashlights with fresh batteries, and never use candles or torches.
• Be certain that all trick-or-treaters can be seen easily. Costumes should be brightly colored or white, and reflective. Reflective tape can also be applied across the back and front of costumes, or you can attach glow-sticks to kids. They actually love glow-sticks nearly as much as candy.
• Avoid using masks that are hard to see or breathe through. Use makeup instead.
• Do not allow children to carry sharp objects. Use props that are pliable and soft to avoid injury.
• Make sure costumes fit well and are not loose enough to be tripped over or snagged on things.
• Stay on sidewalks, if available, or walk on the side of the street that faces oncoming traffic.

Do not allow children to eat any treats until the group has returned home and an adult has examined all of the contents of each bag. Throw away anything that looks spoiled, is not contained in a sealed wrapper, or looks suspicious in any way.

In order to avoid candy overdose, let children pick out enough of their favorites to fill one zip-lock sandwich bag. Then explain that the rest of the treats must be left outside for the ghosts, so they won’t play mean tricks on them!