Halloween Tips for Safety and Fun!

PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org - 2024 Find a pumpkin patch, corn maze, safe trick-or-treating, hayrides and other Fall and Halloween fun near you!

Find a local pumpkin patch here! Find a local pumpkin patch

Halloween Tips for Safety and Fun!

Hype and Hysteria?

According to a university professor who researched it, no child has ever been killed or seriously harmed by poisoned candies or fruit. Nonetheless, many parents freak out every year. A little common sense and basic caution goes a long way.

Guide to Safe Trick or Treating

  1. Costumes - Dark color costumes are hard to see at night; Give your kids various lights, glowsticks, reflectors, etc., front and back... and incorporated into the costume, so they don't look like a safety-dork. For example, our homemade IronMan has reflective strips and a light on his chest and on his palms... a stick-on LED light works for that! Ensure costumes are flame-resistant.
    Choose comfortable, non-restrictive costumes are best. Face makeup or face paint instead of masks is better visibility.

  2. Where - Trick or treat in neighborhoods that you know. Decide on a safe and well-lit neighborhood or area to go trick-or-treating with your children.  Respect age restrictions: Some neighborhoods may have age limits for trick-or-treaters, so be aware of and follow these guidelines.

  3. Who - Trick-or-treating in groups of friends or family can not only enhance safety, but also make it more enjoyable. No child should ever trick or treat alone. If you have teenage children, see this page of trick or treating tips specifically for teenagers.

  4. Plan the route. Whether you child is old enough to go with a group of friends without you or not, you should discuss and agree in advance what the route will be.

  5. Agree upon a time to be home - Determine a specific start and end time for trick-or-treating to ensure it doesn't go too late into the night.

  6. Use a tracking app - Life360's FREE plan works great and shows you on a map, where your child is in real time, when you have downloaded the app to their phone and yours and set up the connecting account. If you don't have an app, agree a meeting point in case you get separated from your children.

  7. Walking safety - Be careful crossing streets, take young children by the hand. On the sidewalk, walk between the child and the street.

  8.   Don't enter homes - Instruct your kids never to enter anyone's home while trick-or-treating.

  9. Check candies for anything odd. Never eat anything that isn't in a factory-sealed package. Again, it's never happened, but you don't need to be the first, in an age of rampant T-e-r-r-o-rism. If your child has any allergies, check for the allergens and swap out any allergen-containing candy with safe alternatives. Fentenyl looks like sweet tarts candy Fentanyl is often made to look like candy, so, again, the most important tip is do not allow your children to eat any candy which is not in its original (and intact) wrapper! See this photo of fentanyl-->

  10.  Never allow  open flames or spark sources near costumes.

  11.   Emergency contact: Make sure your children know your phone number and address, and if they do not have their own phone with them, carry an emergency contact card. Review with children how to call 9-1-1 (or their local emergency number) if they ever have an emergency or become lost.

  12.  Neighborhood safety - Be aware of your surroundings and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.

  13.   Be respectful, polite and considerate - Remind your children not to damage or vandalize any property while trick-or-treating. Teach children to say "thank you" when receiving treats.

  14.   Hydration - In hot weather, bring water.  Having an early dinner before going trick or treating will discourage the kids from stuffing themselves with candy!

Links to more website that have more detailed safety information:

  • The Official Halloween Safety Game - Since 1996, we have provided this fun way for families and students to learn Halloween Safety while trick-or-treating. If you are going to go door to door trick-or-treating, you should play.
  • Children's Safety Zone
    A non-commercial site dedicated to children's safety issues.
  • Halloween Safety Tips for Companion Animals
    Halloween can be very spooky for the animals we live with! Follow these simple steps to make sure your cats or dogs are safe and secure at Halloween! Brought to you by Tree House Animal Foundation - a not-for-profit humane organization in Chicago, Illinois.
  • LAFD - Halloween Safety Tips
    Safety Tips from the Los Angeles Fire Department.
  • McGruff Safe Kids
    Has Halloween safety products for sale.

Halloween Safety Websites

Paranoia and More

Some of the more paranoid precautions are below.

  • Don't eat apples. They hide razor blades. (it hasn'thappened)

  • Don't eat candy until we take it to the nearest emergency room to have it X-rayed. See above.

  • Don't eat anything that isn't factory-sealed. It is likely to contain poisons, toxins or hallucinogens.

  • Don't eat anything homemade, sealed or otherwise. See above.

  • Don't ring the doorbell of anyone you don't know personally. A pervert might answer.

  • Don't get close to groups of teenagers. They capture children, mummify them in toilet paper and set them on fire.

  • Don't cross any streets. You'll get hit by a runaway vehicle driven by aforementioned teenagers.

  • Don't run. You will trip over your costume. OK, this could actually happen, my children run and fall down every day... and I know I did...And then I got up again.

Halloween Costumes

Here are some of the most popular Halloween costumes for children this year. For more choices, see our Halloween costumes pages.

You may find these websites useful!

Here's the quick list to related farms for PYO, Honey, Pumpkins, Christmas trees, etc.:

 

 

Find Related Information and Resources Here!

Don't miss our page of costumes, ready made and ones you can make yourself!

And here's a book of 130 pumpkin carving stencils!

More carving kits and stencils are here!


Find Other types of farms:


Get the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book

Click here to get Halloween Costumes delivered - fast, great prices!




Click here to get Halloween Costumes delivered - fast, great prices!

Find Other types of farms:


Get the
most recent version of
the Ball Blue Book