5 Essential Safety Tips for Halloween for Parents and Grandparents

Hallotober is finally here and things are “spooking up” around. While parenting comes with many challenges, celebrating “the spooky” shouldn’t be one of them if you prepare, plan and follow these 5 essential safety tips for Halloween.

It’s a beautiful fall day outside. The heat and humidity are finally gone. Halloween is right around the corner! Our kids are building up their excitement and I can hear more and more discussions about what costume they are going to wear. Halloween is one of our favourite times of the year as it marks the beginning of the holidays season.

Last Halloween, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 4,400 emergency room visits were attributable to Halloween fun gone wrong. From pumpkin carving accidents to slips and falls, many looking to have some good, old fashioned spooky fun ended up with a real scare.

We are all excited! But if you want to avoid the emergency room and worst of all, completely ruin the celebrations for you and your kids, we recommend the following five essential safety tips for Halloween. They are simple and straight forward and we hope will help you have the most amazing spooky time of the year.

Do you have your own safety tips for Halloween that you want to share with everyone? We would love to hear from you and add them to the list! Please use the comment box at the end of this post to share your own safety tips, hacks or pointers with the other readers.

Also, if I could ask for a small favor – please like and share this post so we can help more parents enjoy Halloween with their kiddos.

Table of Contents

Here are five straightforward rules for parents to keep in mind as they prepare to celebrate.

1. Pumpkin Carving Should Be Left to the Grown Ups

One of the best family friendly activities each Halloween is turning a plain old pumpkin into an impressive Jack-o-Lantern. But pumpkins are pretty sturdy, and little hands and fingers often have a hard time cutting through them. Even kid friendly pumpkin carving knives can slip and leave a gash or a puncture. And few things ruin a good time like a trip to the hospital.

Children under the age of six can help scoop out the pumpkin innards but should not be allowed to cut into the pumpkin. Children seven and older should be guided and supervised as they use their kid-friendly pumpkin carvers. Using tempera or acrylic paints to decorate your pumpkin is an even safer and cleaner way to decorate.

Want to up your carving game? Here is a list of our most favourite carving kits and stencils on Amazon:

Once you’ve got your pumpkin carved, remember: there are literally hundreds of great products that can serve as wonderful alternatives to using candles in your finished Jack-o-Lanterns, including miniature LED lights, battery-powered lights, flameless candles, and even electric candles that come with a remote control or a timer. Why risk a fire when there are so many good alternatives?

2. When Trick-or-Treating, Stick with Homes or Neighborhoods You know

Trick-or-Treating is a wonderful pastime that brings neighborhoods together, creates a sense of mutual celebration, and gives everyone from grandparents to toddlers a reason for taking a fun fall stroll that’s great for people watching. And this is one of our most important safety tips for Halloween so keep reading.

But if you’re not familiar with a neighborhood, Halloween is not the time to go exploring. Instead, stick to homes and neighborhoods you know. That way, you’ll know the terrain and will be able to interact with friends and neighbors. If you’re still tempted to go further afield (say, to grandma’s neighborhood or to the fancy side of town), scout it out first.

Take a walk around making sure to note the condition of the streets and sidewalks. Try to identify the major intersections. Do they have traffic lights and crosswalks? Are there adequate streetlights? If you’ve scouted a neighborhood first, it’s going to be much easier and safer for you and your kids to find your way around when you’re all excitedly walking the neighborhood dressed as the Incredibles.

3. Keep the Weather and the Time in Mind and Dress Accordingly

Sure, your kids are in great costumes! But if it’s cold or wet, they’ll need a jacket or raincoat and appropriate footwear. Nothing ruins Spider-man’s time like frostbite.

If the kids are sad that people can’t see their costumes, make them a deal! They can take off their coats just before ringing the doorbell so long as they put it back on before you leave the porch. If they still whine, remind them that even Princess Elsa needs a decent coat so that she doesn’t freeze.

Remember, too, that wet leaves are particularly slippery, especially when they’ve fallen in the road or on the sidewalk. Shoes with decent tread–such as boots or even sneakers–are going to be safer than cheaper costume shoes made to look good rather than to function well.

With small kids, you’ll want to go out early, while the sun is still out. Remember, in the northern hemisphere, it’s fall. This means that the temperature tends to drop significantly near the end of the day, so even if it’s temperate out when you leave your house, it may be chilly by the time you return. An extra sweatshirt or scarf is always a good idea.

4. Parents Should Defer to their Children’s Fun on Halloween

Halloween is a great holiday and can be fun for everyone, but if you’ve got little ones, the holiday’s fun needs to be reserved for them.

This means a couple of things that are probably obvious.

First, adults supervising or hosting children on Halloween should abstain from drinking alcohol. This is a kid’s holiday that can be easily ruined by adult problems.

Second, if trick-or-treating and supervising children, parents should wear appropriate gear (reflective or bright clothing, for example) and should bring a flashlight, an extra sweater or sweatshirt, their cell phone, and a small first aid kid. Better safe than sorry, especially when kids are involved.

5. Be Aware of What Your Kids are Eating on Halloween

This is another one of our safety tips for Halloween that we are really passionate about. Sure, Halloween’s about the scares and the costumes, but it’s also about candy. Lots and lots of candy. There are some tried-and-true rules for when it comes to candy, and most are more than reasonable.

First, don’t accept any home baked or homemade treats unless they’re from Grandma or some other trusted adult. A good rule here is this: if this is an adult who you would allow to cook a meal for your kids, then it’s likely true that you can accept a homemade Halloween treat from them.

Still, when out trick-or-treating it can be difficult to keep track of who gave your child what. It’s best to err on the side of caution and only accept pre-packaged candy goods. This also means that you should only give pre-packaged candy good to trick or treaters. This doesn’t mean that you or your children need to be rude, however. You can accept a homemade treat, say thank you, and discard it once you’re home.

After the fun, be sure to examine the candy with your child. Tell them that you want to help them count their treats and if you see any opened, torn, or suspicious, candy wrappers, toss them in the garbage.

Second, if you’re going to a Halloween party (or are hosting one), be sure to disclose any and all allergies that you or your children might have. If hosting, be sure to inquire about allergies with your guests (they’ll appreciate the thoughtfulness). Few things can ruin a good time like a Snickers bar can for someone who’s allergic to peanuts.

Last, don’t let your kids binge on sugary treats. The Wold Health Organization recommends that an individual get no more than 10% of his or her daily calories from sugar. For a healthy adult, this means eating no more than about 20-25 grams of sugar per day (a can of Coke contains nearly 40 grams of sugar). By the way, checkout our 21 Simple and Cost-Free Habits to do Every Day for Better Health. You’ll be surprised on how easy it is to stay healthy!

For a child, that means eating far fewer grams of sugar per day. Sure, Halloween isn’t like other days and your kids should be allowed to indulge. But aside from what’s generally healthy, sugar binges can cause real and immediate problems. Those include gastrointestinal upset, sleeplessness and over a longer term, cavities and insulin resistance.

Set a limit on how many pieces of their Halloween candy they can have per day. You can also make a game of it! Ask your child or children to see how long they can make it last by limiting the amount of candy they eat. Whoever makes it to Thanksgiving can be the winner.

Halloween is time to enjoy and celebrate while also being safe.

I’m not sure about you, but for us Halloween has always been one of our most favorite times of the year. After all, it marks the start of our other most favorite time – Christmas. To make it enjoyable and fun for everyone in the family, we always follow the above 5 essentials safety tips for Halloween.

What about you? What safety tips for Halloween do you follow in your family?

Celebrating any holiday is a great time to create life long memories both for you and your kids. Don’t ruin it! Instead use a little common sense and planning and I promise you that everyone will thank you for it.

If it’s ok with you, I would like to ask you for a small favor again. Please use the social icons on the left to like and share this post so we can help more parents enjoy the spirit of Halloween. Thank YOU!

Till the next opportunity.

Parents: Don’t Forget These Five Essential Safety Tips for Halloween