8 Trick-or-Treat Halloween Tips

These Halloween tips will make the day a treat and help avoid any potential tricks that could spoil your spooky holiday.

1. Give trick-or-treaters their own flashlights
Some Halloween festivities get started around dusk, and for little ones, navigating sidewalks and porch steps without sufficient light can lead to falls. A lightweight flashlight that clips to a costume sleeve or wristband is ideal for trick-or-treating. The new LED flashlights are an improvement over traditional bulbs that get hot or can break when dropped.

2. Supply ample lighting (Especially If you’re handing out candy instead of collecting it)
You can get creative with your Halloween lighting by supplementing it with strands of orange or purple fairy lights, jack-o’-lanterns and colorful flood lights, but make sure the path to your door is well-lit. Proper lighting also puts trick-or-treaters at ease for a Halloween outing that could feel a bit scary for little ones.

3. Emphasize practicality over looks for masks and costumes
While you want your little ghoul or goblin to look great for Halloween, remember that trick-or-treating is an active event. Masks that impede vision and costumes that limit movement are not for going door to door. A young fairy or pirate might want to wear fancy shoes, but insist on practical sneakers, not the costume shoes that come with a pre-made costume.

4. Consider skipping the mask and going with cosmetics
With zombie or witch face paint, you can create your own unique look for your child’s costume without a cumbersome mask that could hinder peripheral vision. Shops right now are full of Halloween makeup kits that include ghostly white, witch green and blood red paints. Other costumes look great with cosmetic accessories such as hair gems for a fairy princess or temporary tattoos for pirates and sailors.

5. Use candy bags your child can carry when full
Heavy candy buckets and bags become cumbersome for kids, especially if candy-givers are generous, and could cut the festivities short. Look for lightweight but sturdy plastic or cloth candy-catchers that won’t weigh too much when loaded or drag on the ground and burst.

6. Let your Halloween flag fly
Kids won’t come to your door if they aren’t sure your home is part of the trick-or-treat circuit, so decorate for the holiday and let them know they’re welcome. Hanging a Halloween bunting and decorating your porch tells kids that your house is open for trick-or-treating, and is one of the most overlooked Halloween tips.

7. Always check candy before allowing a child to eat it
Well-intended as they may be, homemade treats don’t have the quality control of factory-wrapped candies. If you aren’t sure what’s in it, how it was made and who gave it to your child, be safe and remove it from the haul.

8. Feed kids well before the main event
A hungry child will be sorely tempted to dip into the treat bag before you’ve checked the candy and could overindulge before you know it. Don’t let a stomach ache spoil Halloween fun; serve a hearty, healthy dinner before going out trick-or-treating.

Halloween festivities should be memorable. With these safe Halloween tips, you can make sure your children remembers the holiday for all the right reasons.

Image Credit: blogs.villagegreen.com