Halloween Trick or Treating Safety Tips

Halloween is fun, festive, and full of spooky adventure. Older kids like trick-or-treating just as much as the younger ones do.

Here are 10 basic rules and safety guidelines when Trick or Treating during Halloween for all ages.

1. Wear Reflective Gear
   Use reflective tape on the outside of the kid's costumes, or use flashlights when walking. This makes it easy for other to see you and for you to see in the dark. Department stores often carry fun blinking pendants to wear around kids' necks, or sell flashlights that are small enough for kids to carry in their small hands.
2. Never Let Children Walk Alone
   For obvious reasons. For reasons not so obvious, kids can easily be distracted and get lost even on streets they are unfamiliar with.
3. Safety in Numbers
   It is better for kids to go in groups. It is more fun for them, and they occupy each other during stretches of sidewalk with no houses.
4. Act as Chaperons For Older Kids
   Older kids like their independence, and they can trick or treat safely with you as chaperon. They don't need assistance walking door to door, but walking behind them ensuring the houses are safe and no strangers go up to them ensures safety and lets them have a little space during Halloween.
5. Go To Houses With Lights On
   When walking and choosing houses, look for ones with the front porch lights on, or other indications that the homeowner is home, and willing and able to give out candy.
6. Do Not Touch Decorations
   Kids love bright objects, especially the young ones, but make sure they don't touch lighted pumpkins or other candle or light brightened objects. They might get burned. Don't let kids climb on decorated things in front yards, like set up graveyards or a pumpkin patch or haystacks. There might be sharp objects in them setting them upright, and this also respects the homeowners hard work.
7. Never Enter Homes
   No matter how much the kids want to, never go inside homes. Never accept invitations to come inside to get the candy either. The only exceptions to this rule are if the parents know the owners of the house really well, or the kids are related to the owners and the kids have the okay from the parents to enter. Even if the kids know the homeowners, they should never enter without permission from the parents trick or treating with them.
8. Check All Candy
   Dump out all the candy and check it over. Avoid candy that has signs of tampering. These may be obvious, or very subtle: avoid wrappers that are open or have holes in them them. Avoid lollipops that look as though they have been re-wrapped.
9. Avoid Loose Candy
   Only eat those candies that come in manufacturer's containers. Never eat candy that have been repacked in small plastic bags (like jellybeans, loose mints, or filled truffles).
10. Never Eat Homemade Items
    Never eat treats or other goodies that are handmade. You just don't know what went into them (harmful or inedible products) or if they were made properly (food safety). The only exceptions is if the parents of the children know the person who made the goodies. Even then, use discretion once you get home. It's not personal or anything against the person who made the treats, parents just need to know that their kids are eating safe items.