How to Stay Safe While Trick or Treating

Posted on Oct 19, 2019

As Halloween rolls around, your kiddo is probably getting super excited. Between getting to choose a costume, Halloween movies, Halloween parties, and the anticipation of getting candy, Halloween is a favorite holiday amongst kids.

Although this holiday is a lot of fun for children, there are precautions you will need to take before they head out. To make sure your kiddo has a safe Halloween that’s full of fun, keep reading!

Costume

When it comes to choosing a costume for your kiddo, it’s important to choose something safe. Look for a costume that has bright colors and can easily be seen when it’s dark out. The most common cause for injury on Halloween is from cars that don’t see trick-or-treaters. If they don’t want to wear a costume that’s brightly colored, then put a piece of bright, reflective tape on their bag.

On top of making sure they can easily be seen in their costume, it’s important to find a costume that doesn’t pose falling hazards. If they choose to wear something with a cape, cloak, or any other loose hanging pieces, make sure it is short enough that they aren’t tripping over it.

If they’re wearing shoes that go with their costume, check to make sure they can walk in them before they set out for a long night of trick-or-treating. The shoes should fit well and be comfortable enough to walk in for the night. Heels or shoes that are too big would probably not be appropriate.

If a mask is part of your child’s costume, you may want to rethink this accessory. Consider recreating the face mask with makeup to limit the chance of visibility problems. When your kiddo’s walking around in the dark, you will want them to be able to see as well as possible. Masks can limit visibility, so it is best to avoid them.

When shopping for costumes and wigs, you will also want to choose items that are flame-resistant. Costumes and wigs are usually clearly labeled as flame-resistant.

If you have a toddler or a baby make sure to check out our blog post for baby costume ideas.

Trick or Treating

If your children are young, then they should be accompanied by a parent while trick or treating. Flashlights are always a good thing to bring trick or treating because there could be tripping hazards in the road.

If you have kids that are older and are trick or treating without you, it’s important that you brush them up on safety. Establish a route that they are allowed to follow around the neighborhood, so they don’t end up lost or too far from home. Remind them that they should stay in their group at all times and never go off on their own.

Let them know which houses are appropriate to go to, and which ones aren’t. If the porch light is off, or the porch is dark, they should skip that house and go to another one. If they go up to a house and that person asks them to come inside for their candy, they should leave immediately. This same idea applies to cars passing by.

Tell your kiddos that they should avoid areas that aren’t well lit by streetlights and should not be cutting through yards or alleys. If they are going to be crossing the street, they must do so in a group, and look each way thoroughly to make sure there are no cars coming. They should also limit distractions when crossing the road, such as electronics.

If there aren’t any sidewalks in your neighborhood, let them know to stay as close to the edge of the road as possible. It can be dangerous walking in the road at night, so they will need to stay as far out of the cars’ way as they can. Also, they should keep an eye out for cars pulling into driveways and backing out. Drivers should be on higher alert on Halloween night, but unfortunately not everybody thinks of this.

Make sure your kiddo is carrying a cell phone in case they have an emergency and need to contact you.

Halloween Activities

If you plan on carving pumpkins with your kids, there are some things you should think about. While pumpkin carving can be a really fun and festive activity in the fall, it can be dangerous as well. Kids should only carve pumpkins while you’re there to supervise them, and after being taught the proper way to handle sharp tools.

If you have young children wanting to carve pumpkins, then you will need to carve it out for them. Let them draw their design on it and carve it for them so they aren’t needing to handle dangerous tools.

Instead of putting real candles in the pumpkins, put a flameless candle or a flashlight in. Having a real flame can present a fire hazard and choosing a flameless candle or flashlight will create the same effect in your pumpkin!

Candy

When going around the neighborhood and collecting candy from people you don’t know, you have to be very careful. While it is uncommon, there have been cases of people putting dangerous objects in Halloween candy, such as razors, tacks, or pins. If any candy is already opened, has a hole in the wrapper, or looks tampered with in some way, throw it away.

If your child has a food allergy, you will also need to be careful with getting candy randomly handed to you. Most of the popular candies that are handed out on Halloween contain the most common allergens such as wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, or soy. Inspect the ingredient list to make sure it’s free from any ingredients that might bother your child.

If they can’t eat most of the candy they got from trick or treating, try to organize a “candy swap” with the kids they went trick or treating with. This will help your kiddo get some candy they can eat! If this isn’t a possibility, replace their candy with ones they can eat, and say it was the “Halloween fairy.”

Avoiding Sugar Overload

After a night of collecting tons of candy, any kid is going to want to come home and devour it. While they should be able to dive into some of that candy, try to encourage them to pace themselves. Ration off the candy so they are allowed to have a certain amount each day. If they eat it all in one day, then they might get a really bad stomach ache.

Consider making a healthier dinner that will fill them up to balance out some of the extra sugar they’re going to be eating. Plus, if they’re well fed at dinner, then they won’t have as much room for loads of candy!

After they treat themselves to some candy, make sure they brush their teeth well to avoid getting any cavities.

Keeping Your Home Safe for Other Trick or Treaters

While you’re looking for ways to ensure that your child stays safe on Halloween, don’t forget about the other kids in the neighborhood! There are plenty of things you can practice to make the night safer for trick-or-treaters.

When getting your home ready for Halloween night, you will need to do more than stock up on candy. Check your driveway and porch to make sure there isn’t anything that will trip the trick-or-treaters. Look for hoses, bricks, toys, or anything else that could pose a hazard.

Check your porch light to make sure that it’s working, and that it’s on for the trick-or-treaters. Kids will normally only go to houses with the light on. Also, keep any pets that you might have away from the door, especially if they get nervous with strangers.

If you’re traveling on Halloween night, drive slower than you normally would. Keep a close eye out for trick-or-treaters. Be careful pulling into your driveway, as well as pulling out.

As this Halloween approaches, you’ll know all the most important safety tips. Now get out there and have a safe, and spooky night! Don’t forget we will be throwing not one, but two Halloween parties for our jungle visitors - join us Friday, October 25th from 5 PM-8 PM for kids of any age. Make sure you arrive dressed in your jump-appropriate costume, because we’ll be having the best jungle costume contest this world has ever seen! Even Monkey Joe and Jane will be dressed up for the occasion! Can you guess what they will be dressed up as?

The following Tuesday, October 29th will be reserved for children under 4; remember, kids under 4 pay only $4 for admission, too! Older siblings are welcome, as always, to join in the fun for the toddler party, but the costume contest winner will be under four years old. Dress up as anything you like! Just be sure to maintain jumping ability - no one wants to come to Monkey Joes and be stuck sitting down!

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