Before Halloween

  • Plan out your costumes. Make sure everything fits and if you’re in a colder climate make sure it will fit over a winter coat.
  • Plan out where you are trick or treating. Stick to your neighborhood or neighborhoods you know well. This is not about where they candy is, but where it is safe. If your state has an online sex offender registry check it. Check where sidewalks and cross walks are. Plan your trip in a loop or several small loops so you can end up back where you started.
  • Check the Trick or Treat times for your town. If you have younger children plan to go out at the start when it might not be as dark.
  • If you would be alone with several young children recruit a friend, family member or mother’s helper to come with you. Or partner up with a neighbor who has children and trick or treat as a group.
  • Make sure you have buckets or bags to hold candy and a flashlight for each child.
  • If you will be alone with several children think of what types of costumes might allow them to be connected together. If you have a small group of cowboys or cowgirls have a section of rope for everyone to hold. If you have princes and princesses then a magic ribbon or sash that everyone needs to hold might help keep the group together.
  • Good footwear. Both for you and your children. They might be running across grass or dirt. If one falls and the rest don’t your group can get separated.

Halloween day

  • Have an early filling meal shortly before going out. This way the kids won’t want to eat their candy right away.
  • Head counts. I think I mentioned this before. Before and after each house count heads.
  • Keep it reasonable. If they kids seem distracted or too excited cut it short. This is exciting for them, which can make it hard for them to remember what is expected of them. Short and fun is better than drawn out and stressful.
  • Walk up to the door at each house with the kids, don’t stand at the curb.
  • Sort candy when you get home. Remove anything that is open or that you don’t want the kids to have.

Some town or locations have Halloween celebrations that you can use to replace trick or treating. One year we went to a Trick or Treat at a college dorm. They had activities for the kids and trick or treating on 2 floors. It was like trick or treating in an apartment building and the kids had fun.