Maryland Trick-or-Treating Safety Tips

Be safe this Halloween and keep in mind the safety risks that come with trick-or-treating and Halloween home decor. If you are moving to Maryland before the holiday, here are a few things to keep in mind when getting your home and family ready for the first holiday in your new home.

Costume Safety:

Although many kids want to dress up as Batman or other dark costumed-characters, make sure that their costume has an easily detectable bright color. Add a little piece of reflective material to your child's costume. When walking the streets trick-or-treating, it is best to be able to be seen in the dark by cars. You can either choose or make a costume with reflective material, or attach a piece of reflective tape either on your child's shoes or candy bag so that they are visible.

Since trick-or-treating is typically done in the evening, there is a lot of trick-or-treating traffic on the sidewalks and even many kids with the same costume...know how to pick your child out from the crowd.

Costumes that require a mask can obstruct your child's vision. Possible alternatives include: face painting a mask or face on your child, or attempting to cut the holes in the eyes of the mask to make them larger. You want your child to have good peripheral vision so that they can see if a car is coming.

Try to stay away from costumes that have a weapon of some sort. Even though the weapon or prop may be made of plastic and is not sharp, it is best to not take the chance of someone thinking that it is an actual weapon. If the weapon clearly looks like a goofy prop then that is fine.

Trick-or-Treating Safety:

Before leaving the house, make sure that your kids know the dangers to trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treat in a group and make sure that all of the children stick together.

NEVER enter a house.

Carry a flashlight. Carrying a flashlight will allow you to keep your group visible and help light your path

Younger children do not fully understand the dangers of being a child that is out alone, or even with a group of friends. Make sure that your child knows not to talk to strangers and to never go inside a home while trick-or-treating.

Also, make sure that they know not to eat ANY candy they've collected until they get home and the candy has been properly inspected by you. Feed them a large meal before they go out trick-or-treating so that they will not be tempted by hunger to eat their candy before getting home.

Make sure that your children are polite and can accept home-made hand-outs, but that they know that these will be thrown away since you can never be sure if any harmful ingredients were added.

If you think that your children are old enough and responsible enough to go trick-or-treating alone with friends, give them a cell phone to check in with you every once in a while.

You can also avoid potential traffic accidents by trick-or-treating at a mall or designated venue.

Make Sure Your Home is Decorated Safely:

Avoid using anything that has to be lit with fire. Opt for safer methods of illuminating your Halloween decorations so as to avoid a fire hazard.

If you are passing out candy, make sure your home is well lit to avoid children from tripping over anything and getting yourself in trouble by other parents. It is typically a general rule of thumb for trick-or-treaters to not knock on doors that do not have a light on, so if you are welcoming the young, costumed characters, then make sure you have properly decorated the outside of your home so that it is clear that you are awaiting their arrival.