1. Reflect On This
Consider kitting the kiddos out with reflective badges, tape, or glow sticks to make them more visible to drivers (Mom hint: Target has a dollar section at the front of each store lined with these goodies!)
2. Three’s A Crowd
Stick together in a small group and if there’s a whole lotta littles trailing along consider using the ‘buddy system’ – everyone holds hands with someone else and is accountable for that buddy throughout their spooky adventure.
3. Let’s Play Fight
Keep all theatrical weaponry to a flexible, non-harming minimum. Kids will be kids and a soft, spongy play sword to the eyeball is a lot better than a more realistically built one – just saying.
4. Check This Out Mom!
Parents, be sure to have a decent glance over your kiddo’s candy before they dive into their sugary nirvana. I know we’ve all heard the urban legends but look out for homemade goods from homes you don’t know or broken wrappers and discard as you go.
5. Make Me Up
If your kiddo plans to don some face paint fun before your trick or treating excursion, be sure to test it on a small amount of skin a few days before hand (the inside of the elbow is great for this!). No one wants to add hives to their horror make up, after all.
6. Calling All Monsters
Pin emergency address and phone number details to the inside of your kid’s costume or trick or treat bag just in case you lose one another in the spooky hoopla.
7. Drive Like a Hearse
For all those car bound trick or treaters out there, just a friendly reminder to watch out for straying, dark-clothed kids on your candy filled adventure. Beware of doors opening suddenly and kids bounding out into the road, as well as suspicious looking hiding places like hidden pathways and piles of leaves in the road – it might sound unfeasible but it has happened before – let’s not let tragic history repeat itself folks!
8. The Great Outdoors
Reiterate to your kids the importance of not entering a stranger’s home (and what the definition of stranger is to you and yours!). Plan for bathroom breaks with little ones and keep them tight together at the doorbell.
9. Light Me Up
Gift a special spooky flashlight to each clan member to avoid any unnecessary rough and tumbles on unlit paths and sidewalks.
10. I See You
Make sure all masks and headgear that your kids might be flaunting still allow them to see where they’re going. No one wants to waste perfectly good candy harvesting time stumbling or wandering into the road by mistake, now do they?
11. Beware the Jack-O-Lantern
Teach your kids to keep their distance from any candle lit pumpkins lining the pathways and driveways of home. A whole lot of these store bought costumes are anything but nonflammable…need I say more? And hey, if you like to put a carved pumpkin or five out for some eerie ambiance, consider lighting them for the evening with a battery powered, flicking candles – much safer!
12. The Teal Pumpkin Project
Got kids with special dietary restrictions? Look out for the teal pumpkins donning front yards this year for some non-food, or more restriction appropriate treats! How awesome is THAT?!
Check out this super cool KMB post ‘Why Teal is the New Orange’, for more information on this new trick or treating movement!
Do you have any tips you’d add to this list? Share with us in the comments!
