Safety Checklist for Halloween

For many children and adults alike, Halloween is one of the most fun nights of the year. Who wouldn’t love an evening of dressing up and FREE CANDY? But, with so many little ones out and about in one night, it’s important for everyone to be extra cautious to ensure we all enjoy a safe Halloween.

Here are five things you can do to make sure tomorrow night is still fun but drama free.*

Talk Rules With Your Little Ghouls

BEFORE you leave the house, make sure both little AND big goblins know the basics:

Cross only at corners or marked crosswalks
Never cross the street between parked cars
Never go into a stranger’s house
Watch out for cars backing or turning
Wear bright colored clothing if possible, or reflective tape
Use a flashlight or blinking runner’s light clipped to a costume or treat bag

Parent Pro-Tip: Help make your child visible in the dark by using a stripe of reflective tape on the front & back of their costume, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, or blinking pins similar to what night joggers wear.

*You can find reflective tape at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I keep a roll in our Halloween decorations box & use it each year on costumes.*

Adults should accompany children, discuss the route their children should be taking, and most important, explain the difference between tricks and vandalism.

Drive Carefully

Halloween is considered the “deadliest day for child pedestrian accidents,” according to a State Farm study. Keep an eye open for children who forget the rules, use caution when traveling and obey posted traffic signs especially in neighborhoods.

Don’t Be Tricked By Your Treats

Make sure children know they should not open candy until they have returned home and that ALL candy should be inspected for tampering.

Parent Pro-Tip: If you are trick-or-treating, prep a small sample of pre-inspected candy for when your little monster needs a fix going door to door. Then make a Sorting Game of it when you get home – with you being the judge for the Best Haul. This guarantees you get to eyeball the loot before the kids start eating it.

Prepare Your Home

Have a well-lit home both inside and out to prevent vandalism and injuries, remove all obstacles from your lawns to avoid injuries (or shine a light on Halloween lawn decorations), and don’t use candles in decorations that could set a fire.

Another thing: if you have a home security camera system, make sure it’s engaged, armed, and the settings are adjusted.

Know Your Neighbors

In ideal circumstances, you would only visit homes of those neighbors you know, but at a minimum parents should check their neighborhoods for known sex offenders by visiting www.familywatchdog.us before heading out to trick or treat.

Lt. Wayne Kamus of the Madison Police Department also recommends parents do their due diligence before heading out on Halloween. He suggests looking over the following websites for some common-sense tips, as well as a few that might not occur to you.

[box type=”blank” class=”bg-blue rounded-10″]Does your family have any Halloween safety “tricks” we haven’t mentioned? If so, share them in the comments section. [/box]

*Thanks to the Madison and Huntsville Police Departments for their annual help in compiling these suggestions to keep our children safe on Halloween.

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Rocket City Mom

Rocket City Mom is a website about raising children in and around Huntsville, Alabama. Started in late 2010 by a local mom and newcomer to Huntsville, Rocket City Mom has grown into a thriving community of local parents and now boasts a staff of four, thirteen regular contributors, and tens of thousands of Tennessee Valley readers making it the #1 Parenting Resource in North Alabama.