Make Halloween a Fun, Safe and Happy Holiday
Everyone wants to have a safe and happy Halloween for themselves, their guests and their children. Using safety tips and common sense can help you make the most of your Halloween season and make it as enjoyable for your kids as it is for you!
There are many ways to keep your child safe at Halloween, when they are more prone to accidents and injuries. The excitement of children and adults at this time of year sometimes makes them forget to be careful. Simple common sense can do a lot to stop any tragedies from happening.
Trick or treating isn't what it used to be. It's not as safe to let kids walk the streets alone. Send a responsible adult or older teenager with them.
Have a pumpkin carving party for your children and their friends a couple nights before Halloween. They'll enjoy looking at their creations for a few days before they have to be thrown out.
Check your local grocery store or craft store for Halloween cook books full of tasty treats on a horror theme for both kids and adults.
Serve your kids a filling meal before trick or treating and they won't be tempted to eat any candy before they bring it home for you to check.
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.
Useful Halloween Links
The History of Halloween
http://www.history.com/content/halloween
Pumpkin Carving
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/
HALLOWEEN RECIPES
http://www.halloweenrecipes101.com/
Halloween Cards
http://www.halloween-cards.com/
Safety
Los Angeles City Fire Department
http://www.lacity.org/lafd/hween.htm |
