While Halloween can be fun for young and old alike, it’s smart to take precautions to ensure your children’s safety — as well as to keep them from gorging themselves on sugary treats.
You want to make sure that nobody gets hurt, that everyone is safe while making the trick-or-treating rounds and that the kids (and maybe you, too) don’t overindulge on too much candy.
The Mayo Clinic has the following advice:
Carve safely
If you are carving pumpkins, you should leave the actual carving duties to an adult to avoid the possibility of the kids slicing themselves.
Leave the rest of the decorating to the kids. Bust out the glitter, glue and paint and any other craft supplies, so they can get creative.
Also leave the placing of the candles to the adults, as well. And keep the candle-lit pumpkins away from anything flammable, like curtains, fabric or paper decorations.
Before you start carving pumpkins, consider these Halloween safety rules:
- Never leave candle-lit pumpkins unattended.
- Better yet, light pumpkins with flashlights, battery-operated flameless candles or glow sticks instead.
Stay out of harm’s way
Take precautions to stay safe while trick-or-treating on Halloween night:
- Watch out for cars.
- Use reflective gear and reflective bags if you can find them.
- Walk with a group.
- Have an adult chaperone if any kids are younger than 12.
- Carry a flashlight with fresh batteries.
- Pin a piece of paper with your child’s name, address and phone number inside their pocket in case you get separated.
The booty
- Don’t let your child snack while he or she is trick-or-treating.
- Feed your child an early meal before heading out, and inspect the treats before allowing your child to dive in.
- Discard anything that’s not sealed, has torn packaging or looks questionable.
- If you have young children, remove any chewing gum, peanuts and other candy that could pose a choking hazard.
- If your child has food allergies, check candy labels carefully.
- Ration the candy. Decide how many pieces they can eat and save the rest for later.
Not going out?
If you plan to stay home and hand out candy to trick or treaters, you should:
- Clear the walkway to your front door of any debris or materials that they can trip over, like garden hoses, toys, lawn decorations, etc.
- Ensure good visibility along the walkway and front door.
- If you have pets, put them in the backyard and don’t let them greet kids at your door. They may frighten the kids, try to bite one of them or make a run for it.
- Consider small gifts instead of candy — things like fun pencils and erasers, stickers, colored chalk, etc.
Behind the wheel
Finally, if you are driving at night, take special care to watch out for children who might dash into the street.
Be especially careful entering or leaving driveways and making turns on residential streets.
