Halloween Safety Tips

Halloween is supposed to be scary, but not for your health! Safety always comes first. Here are a few key tips to help keep you and your family safe this holiday and always.

Walking Safety Tips

Some of these are common-sense practices that almost everyone follows automatically. However, children need to be taught these road safety rules. Follow these walking rules for your own safety and to promote the safety of others. 

• Always walk facing the oncoming traffic. This way you will see a distracted or careless driver coming your way and react appropriately. 
• Whenever possible walk on pedestrian sidewalks. Avoid walking in the street or bike lanes. 
• Never assume that people in cars can see you, make obvious and deliberate movements, be cautious when crossing roads and wear reflective clothing. 
• Remain alert at all times for cars and any other hazardous objects on the sidewalk. Avoid being distracted by your phone or music and keep your full attention on the road. 
• Choose your walking route carefully to remain in safe and familiar areas.   

Trick or Treat - Safety Tips

Halloween is a wonderful experience for young children. Walking around at night, trick or treating and being dressed up as favorite characters all make it a very exciting evening. However it is vital to ensure that everyone is safe in every possible way. 

• Trick or Treating

• A parent or responsible adult should always accompany the children.

• When children are old enough to walk unaccompanied, make sure they walk in a group along an agreed upon route and agree upon a specific time for the children to return home. 

• Discuss road safety and ‘stranger danger’ rules beforehand. 

• Costumes

• When deciding on a costume keep in mind that bright colors are more noticeable at night.
• Attach reflective tape to somewhere on the costumes and treat bags. This is important for all costumes but especially those in darker colors. 
• Make sure that the costume will not be a safety hazard for your children. This includes making sure that they will not trip on their costume, that they can see clearly at all times and that any potentially dangerous (pointy) props are avoided. 

Follow these simple steps to ensure that this Halloween can be fun, exciting, enjoyable and safe for the whole family. Happy Halloween!