• Help your child pick out or make a costume that will be safe. Make it fire proof, the eye holes should be large enough for good peripheral vision.
• If you set jack-o-lanterns on your porch with candles in them, make sure that they are far enough out of the way so that kids costumes won't accidentally be set on fire.
• Make sure that if your child is carrying a prop, such as a scythe, butcher knife or a pitchfork, that the tips are smooth and flexible enough to not cause injury if fallen on.
• Kids always want to help with the pumpkin carving. Small children shouldn't be allowed to use a sharp knife to cut the top or the face. There are many kits available that come with tiny saws that work better then knives and are safer, although you can be cut by them as well. It's best to let the kids clean out the pumpkin and draw a face on it, which you can carve for them.
• Treating your kids to a spooky Halloween dinner will make them less likely to eat the candy they collect before you have a chance to check it for them.
• Teaching your kids basic everyday safety such as not getting into cars or talking to strangers, watching both ways before crossing streets and crossing when the lights tell you to, will help make them safer when they are out Trick or Treating.

Trick or Treating

• Trick or Treating should be one of the great adventures of Halloween for kids! They can get dressed in scary costumes and go door to door, begging "Tricks or Treats!" from neighbors or in the downtown area. It should be a fun time, without trouble and pain, so following some easy tips can keep your child safe every Halloween.
• Children should go out during daylight hours only unless accompanied by a responsible adult.
• Plan a safe route so parents know where their older kids will be at all times. Set a time for their return home. Make sure that your child is old enough and responsible enough to go out by themselves.
• Let your children know not to cut through back alleys and fields. Make sure they know to stay in populated places and don't go off the beaten track. Stay in well lighted areas.
• Stop only at familiar houses in your own neighborhood unless they are accompanied by an adult.
• Small children should never be allowed to go out alone on Halloween. Make sure an older sibling or adult is with them.
• Instruct your children not to eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you.
• Instruct your child to never go into the home of a stranger or get into their car.
• Make sure your child carries a flashlight, glow stick or has reflective tape on their costume to make them more visible to cars.
• Let them know that they should stay together as a group if going out to Trick or Treat without an adult.
• Make Halloween a fun, safe and happy time for your kids and they'll carry on the tradition that you taught them to their own families some day!