Tips and Tricks to Keep your Little Ghost Safe This Halloween
-Be Seen in the Dark
Make sure that costumes can be visible in the night. Opt for brighter, easily seen colors for your child to wear. If you need to, have your child wear some reflective tape or glow sticks as a cheap way to keep them visible.
-Keep Costumes Safe
Halloween masks are super spooky but can obstruct your child’s view if they are not the proper size. Make sure they can see where they are going. Makeup is a good alternative to masks or hoods that will keep their line of sight open. Props that are sharp or heavy can hurt someone if your child gets spooked or just gets a little excited over the Halloween events. Make sure all wigs, hoods, capes or extras are fire retardant.
-Gather with a Group
There is almost always safety in numbers, and that includes on the spookiest night of the year. Gather with friends, cousins, neighbors or anyone who you can take along trick or treating to keep everyone safely together. Make sure children are supervised at all times.
-Check Candy for Safety
It can be important to check through your child’s candy for any opened, suspicious or homemade goodies that you don’t want them to have. Make sure that candy is age appropriate as well by removing hard candies or choke hazard size candy for smaller children.
-Don’t Forget your Cell Phone
Don’t slip out that door without your cell phone. Make sure it’s fully charged and ready to capture those scary moments with your child. It’s important to have it handy for safety reasons as well. If you do let your older kids around the neighborhood alone, maybe use walkie-talkies to keep in touch, just in case.
-Use Sidewalks and Don’t Ignore Traffic Rules
Children can become overly excited on Halloween night and forget to cross the street safely. Talk to them about using sidewalks and crosswalks when available. Also, make sure they know to walk on the outside of the road toward oncoming traffic if no sidewalk is available. Pick a larger neighborhood to stay in and give your kids plenty of options for trick or treating to avoid busy or dark roads.
-Be Extra Cautious While Driving
More accidents happen on Halloween Night with cars and pedestrians than most other times of the year. Be alert and use more caution than usual on this festive night. Remind teenage drivers of these risks as well.
-Keep Pumpkins Free from Hazards
Instead of letting children carve pumpkins, have them draw on a face with a sharpie and then an adult can cut out their pattern. Using paint or props to create a spooky face on your pumpkin instead can also be a safer, fun approach to Jack o’Lanterns. Try using battery operated lights or different colored glow sticks to give your pumpkin that eerie Halloween glow this year.