In just a few short weeks, Halloween will be upon us. There are several safety tips to remember when your children go out trick-or-treating.

The first safety tip to focus on is your child's Halloween costume. It is important to have your child try on their costume early on, in order to ensure that it fits well. One important factor to remember is the length of the costume. You want to make sure that the costume is not dragging on the ground. If it does, it carries the risk of your child tripping on the costume and getting hurt. If it is too long, you should hem it up so that it rests on the very top of your child's shoes. If the costume comes with feet as a part of it, you might want your child to wear their shoes over the feet of the costume. This way, your child will not hurt their feet by stepping on any dangerous things on the sidewalks or when crossing the street.

It is recommended that your child not wear facial masks. They carry risks of the child not being able to breathe well while wearing the mask. There are also risks of their not being able to see well through the eyes of the costume and they could fall down and get hurt. You might want to consider using make-up specifically for Halloween and creating a work of art on your child's face, instead of the mask. This can also be fun for the child as they show off their cool face to their friends!

Another safety tip is to use glowsticks, flashlights, and reflectors. Glowsticks are very inexpensive and can be purchased at stores such as Price Busters, KMart, and Walmart. They have various types of glowsticks available and they are fun for the children to wear or carry. Flashlights will help your child as they cross the street to get from one house to another. They also help drivers to see your child as they cross the street. Reflectors can be placed on your child's costume. A great place to put a reflector is on the outside of the legs of the costume or on the back of the costume. This will enable drivers to see your child as they cross the street.

The next safety tip is to use the buddy system. Many parents, especially those of young children, will go trick-or-treating with their child for safety reasons. However, for those that do not go with their children, the buddy system is very important. No child should go trick-or-treating by themselves. Having a buddy along for trick-or-treating helps to make the adventure safer. Older brothers and sisters make great buddies, as do friends and neighbors!

Another great way to trick-or-treat, which is extremely safe, is to go to a local mall. I used to take my children trick-or-treating at the mall. Every store had someone at their door to pass out candy to the children. There were so many children that participated in the mall trick-or-treating. The mall also had people that they brought in dressed up in costumes, such as Batman or Darth Vader. Many of the parents that brought their children trick-or-treating to the mall had gone all out on homemade costumes and it was so much fun to look at the different costumes! There were also contests for the children that dressed up. One year, my daughter won first place in the contest. Mall trick-or-treating is so much fun for the children and it's so safe! It also encourages some excellent family time!

Lastly, another safety tip is to sift through personally and check all candies that your child has collected while trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, there are people out there that place harmful objects or items inside of candy, including razor blades and drugs. This is especially important to do if you are trick-or-treating outside of the malls. You might want to consider, as a parent, taking your child trick-or-treating only to the homes of those people you know. The risk of dangers increase when you go to the homes of people you don't know.

When going through the candies gotten while trick-or-treating, throw away any candies that have already been opened, even if only partially. Please also be aware that some people will open up the tiny bags of candies and wrap them back up themselves. I do not recommend that you allow your children to eat these particular candies. I'm not too sure how many people actually give out apples anymore, but if your child does get apples in their bag or container, please wash them thoroughly and slice them up to be eaten. Slicing them up helps to eliminate the danger of having harmful objects in them. Please make sure that your child does not eat any of their candies, until you have had a chance to go through them. This will ensure your child's safety.

It's important to practice these safety tips so that your child's experience on Halloween can be one of fun!