How to Make Halloween Fun and Safe for Your Child

STEP 1: Go trick-or-treating WITH your child. It's best that they don't go alone even when they're just traveling around the neighborhood. You never know who might come to your street corner to try to snatch a child who is alone. Take a flashlight with you and if you'd like even a few strips of reflective tape so that cars can see you in the dark. A great alternative to that would be to have glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces you could put on with your costume.

STEP 2: After you get home you should check your child's candy for anything suspicious. Look to make sure the candy doesn't look like it's previously been opened. You want to make sure that none of it has been tampered with. Unfortunately there are some crazy people out there that do things like mess with candy or put a blade in them in a sick effort to hurt a child. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Once you inspect all the candy you can give it to your child. It'd probably be a good idea to ration it though so they don't get an instant tummy ache!

STEP 3: When carving a pumpkin make sure you stay in control of the knife at all times. Even if you lay it down for a second all it takes is ½ a second for a child to pick it up and seriously hurt themselves.

STEP 4: Often times churches have a "trunk or treat" type of deal on Halloween so that kids can have a safe place to trick or treat. You don't have to go to the church to join in on the fun, anyone is welcome. Let your kid put on his or her costume and have fun with the other kids. If you are not familiar with "trunk or treat" it is when some of the church members all park backwards next to each other in a big area on the church grounds and give out candy from the trunk of their cars. The kids can safely stay in one area and move from vehicle to vehicle to get candy. They usually also have hot dogs, cotton candy, water, and a hay ride.

STEP 5: If you aren't crazy about taking your child out to trick-or-treat around neighborhoods then you could set up a great Halloween right in your very own home. Put up scary decorations, tell ghost stories, and maybe even set up a scary "dead alien" box. In this box you could have maybe 4 holes that your child could put their hand into to feel certain items. For example, you could put wet cooked spaghetti noodles in a bowl with the title "alien brains" and when your child feels them they'll think of that. Then you could put gum balls or something soft and round in another bowl and that would be the "alien eyes." It sounds a little strange, but if the child is old enough and it's done right it can be good, clean fun.