Halloween Survival Guide

Keep your kids safe, avoid a sugar rush, and make some spooky memories with our Halloween Survival Guide.

Halloween Safety

Get in on the fun.  Don’t let your kids  trick-or-treat alone.  Walk with them up to the houses, or stand on the sidewalk where you can clearly see the front door.

Set rules for the older kids.  For pre-teens and teens, discuss where they’re allowed to go, set a curfew for returning home, and require them to go with a group of friends who you know will also abide by those rules.  Make sure they take a cell phone and check in with you every hour or so. 

Check the candy before they eat it.  Toss candy or treats that are unwrapped, homemade, or appear to have been tampered with (check the wrappers). 

Also check for age-appropriate candy – remove hard candy, chewing gum, or other hazards for younger children.

Add reflective tape to candy baskets and costumes.  Just tell your kids you are making their costumes radioactive. 

Set a limit on candy consumption.  Limit how many pieces of candy your child can eat each day and when they’re allowed to have a treat.  Also, eat dinner before trick-or-treating to curb your kids' appetites for the sweet stuff. 

For more information, check out Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Halloween Fun

Get dressed up as a family.  Pick a theme and run with it.  Maybe you're each a different superhero from "The Incredibles", or the whole family goes as their favorite American Idol winner.

Decorate the house together.  Make the front porch a scary scene for trick-or-treaters – make it a family activity.

Have a mummy contest.  Give your kids a roll of toilet paper and see who can make the best mummy.  Simple, cheap, yet wildly entertaining.

Watch a movie.  Watch "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (or another fun Halloween movie) together after the kids get back from Trick-or-Treating to help them wind down before bed.