The Halloween countdown is upon us and kids everywhere are looking forward to trick-or-treating in their costumes. Whether your kids are 2 or 15, dressing up as pumpkins or vampires, you’ll want to help keep them safe while walking through the neighborhood on the 31st. Here are five great products and cool ideas for keeping your trick-or-treaters safe this Halloween! Any or all of them would help ensure visibility and safety on such a fun night!
These flashlights are great for trick-or-treating, as they are small and come attached to a rope necklace, thus leaving hands free to hold the treats obtained. They can also fit inside pockets if your child is too young to handle a flashlight around his or her neck. Whether you live in a big city or in a small town with no side walks, a flashlight is a must for walking around in the evening hours, as the days are getting shorter.
One of the main keys to safe trick or treating is visibility. Glow bracelets and necklaces are things that kids of all ages like to wear at parties and concerts, so why don’t you think of getting some for the trick-or-treating fun on Halloween? Glow bracelets and necklaces come in a variety of colors, and on some websites you can even get them in fun Halloween shapes like cats, witches and pumpkins. We’re recommending the simple glow bracelets here since your trick-or-treater might already have a flashlight around his or her neck, and if you have glow bracelets left over, you can save them for your next party! We love party supplies that work for different themes and types of parties, and glow bracelets can work at almost any party, especially slumber parties.
It’s always a good idea to carry a whistle around, especially when in a crowd. Boys and girls alike will enjoy carrying these around, but just make sure that you tell them only to whistle to get attention in an emergency situation where they feel unsafe. Three short whistle bursts are a recognized call for help. Only give kids whistles if you can trust that they will be used responsibly. The whistles can also be used for safety when hiking or sailing with your kids. We have ones with fun designs, such as Thomas the Train and My Little Pony, which work great as party favors or during party games, so don’t hesitate to get some whistles in time for this Halloween!
Reflective Tape
Whether your kids are planning to go trick-or-treating before sunset or after dark, a simple way of adding visibility to costumes is to use reflective tape. This tape is really handy to have around because you can use it on clothes, hats, shoes, scooters and bicycles if you or your kids are going to be out around dusk. Companies sell almost every color of reflective tape imaginable, so just pick some out to match your kids’ costumes, and there won’t be any complaining or any safety concerns about moving vehicles around your precious trick-or-treaters.
Family GPS Locators
If you have older kids and your family has smartphones, then a family locator is a fantastic product to get through your cell phone provider before this coming Halloween. Basically, you could sign up for this service and define a zone for trick-or-treating, and set your phone up to receive an alert if your son or daughter goes outside the zone. Some services are really sophisticated and offer emails or texts when your family member reaches certain destinations. Say, for example, your teenager is going to a party after trick-or-treating. You could get a message when they reach their party destination. Just to give you an idea of what the big providers offer…Verizon has the Family Locator service for $10/month per child, AT&T has the FamilyMap service for either $10/month or $15/month depending on how many phones you want to locate. Google Latitude is free and will tell you where your family members are, but you will not receive alerts when people are outside of defined zones, because the program doesn’t allow you to define zones. You also need particular smartphones to use the Latitude program. Just as a last note, if you are interested in the idea of a family locator service and have children that are too young to have smartphones, you could always buy a phone or a watch that only does GPS tracking and emergency calls. There are lots of options out there in a wide variety of prices. From Discount Party Supplies, we hope our tips for products have inspired you to have a happy and safe Halloween!
Brynn is a content writer for Discount Party Supplies. Brynn is currently a stay-at-home mom, bringing up her firecracker of a daughter, Romy. She plays violin in a San Francisco Bay Area symphony, and though she doesn’t have time to host many parties with a toddler at home and another baby on the way, Brynn helps friends plan parties and has even successfully catered a party or two.
