9 Ways to Keep Everyone Safe on Halloween Night

kids' halloween parade

Halloween is just around the corner, which is a big deal for most families with little kids. If you’re like most people, you’ll be trick-or-treating this year. But that means wandering around in the dark up to (potentially) strange houses, so there are some safety tips that every family should keep in mind.

  1. Travel in a group – Even if your kids are 16 years old, insist that they go with a few friends. It’s much safer that way in case there is an accident. Less-than-honest people are less likely to take advantage or harm a group of people, too.
  2. Don’t knock on unlit doors – People who leave their lights off are not celebrating Halloween for whatever reason. You might bother someone who specifically doesn’t want visitors.
  3. Inspect all the candy before your children eat it – It’s true that there have been very few instances of people poisoning or adding other substances to candy, but you’re still taking food from strangers. Make sure everything is properly sealed.
  4. Make sure cars can see you – The odds of being struck by a car double when you are trick-or-treating. Everyone in your party should be carrying a small flashlight to light their own way and make them visible to cars. If possible, adorn costumes with reflective tape as well.
  5. All costume accessories (like poles, swords, knives, canes, etc.) should be fake and flexible. No one should be walking around with a real blade.
  6. Opt for a popular Halloween section of town – Many communities have areas (often the main street) where hundreds of people flock to in order to trick-or-treat in a safe, well-lit area. This is a great place to visit, especially if you have little children.
  7. Mind kids when driving – If you’ll be out driving during the Halloween hours (5PM to 10PM), be extra careful for children on the road. Avoid popular trick-or-treating areas.
  8. Watch what your kids eat – Be mindful of what your children are eating while they trick-or-treat. Ideally, you should be inspecting everything first (like I said in tip #3), but sometimes kids will sneak a candy out of their bag. If they eat too much, they might become sick.
  9. Wear well-fitted costumes – Everyone’s costume should fit properly and not make it hard to walk. Tie or hem robes, capes, or dresses so they aren’t in the way of one’s feet. Instead of masks that obscure vision, choose costumes that involve non-toxic face paint.

Also read: Trick-or-Treat Alternatives to Candy

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Written by Stephanie Parker from Sleepingbaby.com, inventors of the Zipadee-Zip

The motto for Sleeping Baby, makers of the Zipadee-Zip, is: "Inspiring Dreams One Night at A time," and that, in a nutshell, is how it all started…with one little dream that has since become the Parker family's reality. When Brett and Stephanie Parker's daughter, Charlotte, was born, the feeling that welled up inside of them was indescribable; they never realized until first looking into those baby blues of hers that they were even capable of that kind of love.

When it was time to transition baby from swaddling, the Parkers tried every sleep sack on the market and everyswaddle weaning trick they could find for nearly two weeks and nothing worked to get baby Charlotte to fall and stay asleep.

Stephanie became determined to restore sleep and sanity to their household and set out to find a solution that would soothe Charlotte's startle reflex and provide her the cozy womb-like environment she loved so much but still give her the freedom to roll over and wiggle around in her crib safely. Out of sheer desperation and exhaustion, the Zipadee-Zip was born. The first Zipadee-Zip(R) Stephanie put together on her little sewing machine worked like magic!

To date tens of thousands of Zipadee-Zips have been sold and all from word-of-mouth marketing. It is so rewarding for the Parkers to see other parents and babies getting the sleep they both need and deserve!

Interested in writing a guest blog for Sleeping Baby? Send your topic idea to pr@sleepingbaby.com.

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