Ghosts and goblins, little witches and skeletons — and more than likely the latest Disney princesses and comic book characters — will be roaming the streets come Halloween.
A scary as the subtext of Halloween may be, it’s not meant to be dangerous day. While adult costume parties are increasingly popular, it is still a day meant for the kids, and you want to do all that you can to keep it safe for them without taking the spirit of the day away.
“Halloween is such a fun time of year, with the costumes, parties and scary décor,” says Namita Gupta, Senior Marketing Manager for Rayovac at Spectrum Brands. “You don’t want to dampen that fun with an accident or emergency that could have been avoided by taking the right precautions.”
Namita offers the following tips to keep your Halloween safe without taking away any of the fun:
• Drive carefully. Ideally, you won’t have to get in your vehicle on Halloween. But if you do, remember there will be scores of excited youngsters roaming the streets, and they could be darting out into the road unexpectedly. Please pay attention.
• Keep an eye on those kids. Kids can be quick and crafty. To keep them from running out into the road unattended, sampling some candy you haven’t inspected or entering a stranger’s house, don’t divert your attention from their Halloween frivolity.
• Illuminate from within. The Jack O’Lantern is a time-honoured Halloween tradition. Carve a scary face into the side of pumpkin, put in a candle and voila! a creepy glowing scary face out front of your house. But anytime you are using a live flame, like a candle, there is a risk of fire. Mitigate that risk by using small battery-powered lights to give your Jack its spooky aura.
• Light the way. No question, Halloween is best enjoyed after dark. But it can be treacherous walking to streets with limited visibility after the sun goes down. Best to carry a small flashlight with you to ensure no tripping hazards are in your path.
• Charge up. Taking the kids out trick or treating is the Halloween mainstay, the kids decked out in their costumes going door-to-door for some free candy. No doubt you will want to snap some pictures on your mobile phone, coordinate with the parents of your children’s friends, or — worst case — maybe even need your phone in the event of an emergency. It’s not a time you want to be running out of juice. Bring along a portable charger to ensure your phone is ready when you are.
• Enjoy cautiously. For the kids, it’s all about the candy. Mini chocolate bars, bags of chips, rockets, molasses kisses … by the end of the night their treat bags are a veritable cornucopia of junk food. Parents should closely inspect all of the candy the kids bring home on Halloween, looking closely for any evidence it may have been tampered with. It is also a wise idea to monitor how much they are eating to ensure it stays in balance with a relatively healthy diet.
