Whether you celebrate a Harvest Festival, the Day of the Dead, or Halloween, the end of this month is certainly something that many kids and parents look forward to.
To help you prep for this scary holiday season, we’re sharing a few links that will help keep your kids safe, and even give a little “treat” to kids in need .
Keep Your Kids Safe
If you take your children trick-or-treating, you probably know some of the standard safety tips, like wearing reflective clothing or checking your children’s candy. Our partner, Safe Kids, wants to make sure you know everything you need to know about Halloween safety!
- Walk safely
- Trick or Treat with an adult
- Keep costumes both creative and safe
- Drive extra safely on Halloween
Download Safe Kids’ complete list of Halloween Safety Tips
See the full-sized Halloween Safety infographic here.
Make Halloween Fun, Not Frightening
If you have children under 5, they may feel a little apprehensive about joining in on the fun. Dress up can be a good time but heading out in the evening to a somewhat unfamiliar environment can be overwhelming,
If your little goblins are looking like they’ve seen ghosts, our partner BabyCenter has some tips just for you:
- Don’t push your child to look at something scary
- Lower your costume expectations
- Avoid masks
- Tread carefully when trick-or-treating
- Look before opening the door
- Skip the spooky stuff and throw a party
Read the full article on BabyCenter.
Keep Food Allergies at Bay
If your children suffer from food allergies, this time of year can be frightening for you and disappointing for your child. But allergies don’t mean that everyone has to sit out.
From the Huffington Post:
“[P]arents can ease their fears by taking preventative steps to educate their children. By establishing a few key guidelines and identifying potential triggers, parents can make Halloween a safe and enjoyable holiday for both themselves and their children.”
Read a few tips from an allergy specialist in the full post, This Halloween, Allergies Don’t Need to Cause Fright.
Don’t Forget to Brush
Speaking of keeping kids safe and healthy, let’s talk about what happens after Halloween. Kids will inevitably plow through candy after candy (even after their parents pilfer some of it). But what about taking extra care of their teeth?
OTCSafety.org offers this infographic on making oral care part of the season!
Finding the Social Good in Halloween
We know that your main focus is keeping your kids happy, healthy, and safe around Halloween. And although giving back isn’t always top of mind during October holidays, there are some simple things you and your family can do – even while trick-or-treating – to help care for kids in need.
Remember when kids would bring around the orange boxes from UNICEF every Halloween to collect change for the United Nations Children’s Fund? The program is still alive and well and it’s not too late to get involved.
You won’t be able to get an orange box overnight, but you can still go online and download all the resources you need (including how to make your own orange canister) for door to door Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF, or have a UNICEF Halloween party with friends!
And you know you’ll be taking photos of your kids in costume. Why not donate your photo to help a worthy cause?
Our Johnson & Johnson app, Donate-A-Photo, allows you to donate a photo to one cause, once a day. Each cause will appear in the app until it reaches its goal, or the donation period ends. If the goal isn’t reached, the cause will still get a minimum donation.
Have we missed an important post on Halloween? We’d love for you to share a tip on keeping the fun in Halloween or leave a link in the comments!
Fadra Nally is a Communications Specialist for Johnson & Johnson. When she’s not working, she’s mothering a precocious 6 year old in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD. In her spare time, she writes all.things.fadra, one of the Top 100 Mom Blogs for 2012 according to Babble.com. She’s also the co-founder of Charitable Influence.