Allowing your kids to go and trick or treat with their friends is inherently risky. It means kids are out having fun with their friends, at dusk when visibility is poor, crossing roads, accepting food from strangers, with safety the furthest thing from their minds.
Tips for safe trick-or-treating:
- Have an adult with the group at all times
- Remind kids of their manners, to say thank you when given lollies
- Remind them to only talke a small serving, leaving some for others
- Only accept wrapped lollies
- Hold hands when you cross roads
- Stay in the group, and don’t rush ahead to the next house
Tips for trick-or-treat homes:
- Keep your porch light on and/or decorate your home/letterbox to let people know you’re participating
- Wrapped lollies are best for hygiene
- Take your decorations down when you’ve run out of lollies
Many suburbs have their own traditions when it comes to trick or treating. In past years, one of the organising mums has put a leaflet in letterboxes, telling them the time when most kids will trick or treat, and how to mark their houses. For example with black and orange balloons.
Now you can register your suburb as a trick or treater, by joining the community and entering your details to get listed on the Trick or Treat locations page.
Most parents are happiest with individually wrapped lollies, such as minties, barley sugar, lolly pops. Supermarkets usually have a big range of packets of wrapped lollies, especially at this time of year.
Be prepared for when you run out of lollies. One year we were late starting halloween, because one of my boys had a piano lesson at 5:00, which is prime trick-or-treating time in our suburb. So he didn’t get to start until 6pm when we got home. And most homes had run out of lollies, or the kids were having their baths or dinner. Some houses had a little note on their front gate saying they had run out of lollies. But others didn’t, so the boys would go to the front door, only to be let down.
You may wish to either take down your decorations, or have a sign ready to say when you have run out of lollies. Otherwise you may end up getting egged, like the car in front of my house read more