As Halloween festivities kick off, the season is filled with excitement and joy. However, it’s crucial to prioritize safety at every step. Taking simple precautions and being mindful of potential hazards can help children and families enjoy the festivities with less worry.

Tulsa Family Connections (TFI) offers the following safety tips to ensure a festive, hazard-free holiday.

By following these safety tips, you can help ensure that your family enjoys a safe, fun and memorable Halloween—minus the spooks!

1. Carve safely (or not at all!): Have kids decorate pumpkins with paint and stickers instead of carving them. If carving, make sure an adult is present.
2. Beware of fire hazards: Instead of using a candle in your jack-o-lantern, use a battery-operated candle. Similarly, be cautious of costume pieces that may be flammable.
3. Make costumes safe: Ensure costumes fit to prevent trips and falls, avoid dark costumes and masks that impair vision.
4. Wear reflective clothing: While trick-or-treating, expect more traffic than usual. Add reflective tape to costumes or bring flashlights, so drivers can see you.
5. Know your route: Plan a route before going out and know the routes of older kids going on their own.
6. Be alert behind the wheel: If you are driving, stay alert and take extra time at crosswalks, stop signs and traffic lights.
7. Make an ID card for your kids: In case you are separated from your child, have them carry a discreet identification card under their costume.
8. Inspect all candy at home: Once home, spread out all candy and check for allergen ingredients, homemade/unwrapped treats (discard them) and small candies that may be choking hazards.
9. Avoid tummy aches: Monitor and limit the amount of candy kids eat on and after Halloween.
10. Keep your home safe: To protect other trick-or-treaters, turn on outside lights, put away pets and remove tripping hazards.

Staff Note: The publisher was out of the office when we posted this story. He is not a fan of Halloween saying, “I gave that holiday to my last ex-wife. She resembles and deserves it. Begging for stuff you don’t pay for is also socialist, and I’m not.”

However, in the spirit of the First Amendment and joyous kids, we hope to keep the boss off our back with a photo from his childhood. The Arnett family owned a Tulsa flower shop during publisher David’s youth. They offered a choice of flowers and/or candy.

Other parents in Tulsa cook hot dogs or hamburgers. Healthy alternatives to candy are worth considering for hospitable parents on All Saints Eve.

All Saints’ Day, November 1, also known as All Hallows’ Day or Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints of the Church, known or unknown. From the 4th century, feasts commemorating all Christian martyrs were held in various places, on various dates. In the 9th century, some churches in the British Isles began holding the commemoration of all saints on November 1st, and in the 9th century this was extended to the whole Catholic Church by Pope Gregory IV.