Ten Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe this Halloween

Halloween is a big holiday for our family. We love dressing up our kids in themes –  one year they all dressed up as characters from Toy Story, another year they were Star Wars characters. Several years we all dressed up as superheroes – we love to really make a big deal. Since we live in the city our neighborhood can get pretty crowded with kids and even entire families on Halloween so we have to use caution. Here are ten safety tips to think about when preparing for this fun holiday. Ten Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe this Halloween

1. Costumes: keep costumes short, especially long dresses such as ball gowns, or capes. Kids can trip on a long costume while going up the steps to ring doorbells. Be sure the costume is at least a couple of inches off the ground. Aside from tripping, the bottom of a long costume can potentially catch fire from a jack o’lantern. Be sure to get fire-resistant costumes and accessories and pay attention to home-made accessories that may catch fire, such as spray-on glitter which can be flammable because of the glue.
2. Keep accessories safe: instead of a mask, which can block vision, use face paint. Be sure swords and knives are made of soft material and give your kids a flashlight or glow stick to hold while they walk. This is also helpful to make your child be seen as they walk in a darker area.
3.  Ensure your home is safe for trick-or-treaters and their parents or grandparents: be sure to clear the path to your door and light up the way so that people don’t trip over anything.
4. Yard safety: some overly excited kids avoid the path and simply step on the grass to get to the candy as soon as possible. Remove branches, bikes, gardening tools, and large pots and store them in a safe place.
5. Now’s a good time to check your home insurance coverage just to make sure you’re covered if any accident should happen in or outside your home. Some houses in my neighborhood are so popular they have dozens upon dozens of people arriving for candy and things can get crowded and hectic.
6. Older kids: if your kids are older and plan on going on their own, be sure to provide them with a fully charged cell phone for any emergency. Remind them to always put the phone down when crossing the street.
7. Set a curfew for older kids and decide on certain routes – that way you’ll know approximately where they are. Remind your kids to walk on the sidewalk as much as possible and if there’s no sidewalk, to walk against the flow of traffic.
8. If your kids are under the age of twelve do not send them out on their own. If they resist, hire a responsible teenager that you trust to take them. If they are going in a large group of more than 4-5 be sure at least one adult is nearby at all times as kids can get hyper and rowdy, especially after eating some treats as they walk.
9. Candy: kids are kids and they’re going to want to eat a lot of candy on Halloween. It’s important to keep an eye out for what’s in their bags, check for any opened candy that needs to be tossed out and also exercise portion control.
10. Handing out goodies: to keep things healthier, you can hand out treats such as prepackaged veggie chips, pretzels, or fruit or applesauce cups. Stay away from nuts as there may be children with allergies around. You can also opt for non-edible treats, such as little toys and trinkets, small art supplies, stickers, temporary tattoos and any other tchotchkes kids like.

Have a fun and safe Halloween! What will your kids be this year?

This post was written as part of the Allstate Influencer Program and sponsored by Allstate. All opinions are mine.

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