Health and Safety Tips to Ensure a Fun and Safe Halloween

posted on Monday, October 18, 2021

Children and adults of all ages love to participate in activities for Halloween! However, we must remember the importance of staying safe while we are having fun.

Please follow the following tips to keep you and others safe during your Halloween festivities:

Carving Pumpkins

The traditional format of carving pumpkins typically involves using sharp utensils. For small children and others that are not equipped to handling sharp objects, try decorating with markers, glitter, or paint. Let your children draw on the pumpkins with various art supplies that you have on hand. Leave carving pumpkins to an adult.

Costume Creativity

Choosing a costume is one of the most exciting parts of Halloween! While we want the costume to be fun, cute, or scary, we also want it to be functional for our children.

• Dress for the weather - if it's chilly outdoors, make sure that your child's costume is loose enough for warm clothing to be worn underneath.
• Size accordingly - make sure that the outfit is not too big or too long to avoid tripping.
• Bright colors - choose bright and/or reflective colors so your child will stand out after dark.

Trick-Or-Treating Safely

Before your children go trick or treating, review the following safety rules together so everyone is on the same page:

• A parent or adult should accompany trick-or-treaters that are younger than the age of 12. Parents can pin a piece of paper with your child's name, address, and phone number on the inside of your child's costume in case you get separated.
• If your child is trick-or-treating without you, make sure to set expectations - discuss a familiar route and set a curfew for your child. If they have a cell phone device, make sure they carry it with them at all times.
• Practice hand hygiene - carry hand sanitizer with you to keep you and your children's hands clean while you are trick-or-treating.

Candy Inspection

Before you or your children dig into their loot of candy from Halloween, make sure to check over the candy before they are eaten.

• Discard any items that are not sealed properly or looks questionable.
• If your child has any food allergies, please look at each item's food label carefully first.
• If you have young children, make sure to weed out gum, peanuts, hard candies, and any other choking hazards.
• Make sure to ration out the collection of goodies first so your children do not overindulge in candy all at once.

Prepping Your Home

If you are not trick-or-treating but are preparing for trick-or-treaters to visit you, please prepare accordingly.

• Clean up your walkway and put away any tripping hazards for the trick-or-treaters to have a safe place to walk.
• Turn on the lights on your front porch so people can see while walking up to the front door.
• Keep your pets inside and take no chances that your pet might be frightened or attack anyone coming to your door.
• Consider handing out items other than sweets like pretzels, popcorn, goldfish, or other non-candy treats.
• If you are a candy snacker - wait until later in October to buy your candy or buy candy that you don't particularly like so you'll be less tempted to dig into the stash ahead of time.

We hope you have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!