Stay Safe on Halloween!

For city kids, walking around alone at night on Halloween and knocking on strangers doors may not be the safest thing, so the Prospect Park Y and Park Slope Armory Y have put together a guide for staying safe and having a fun holiday:

1. Do Your Homework: Research community Halloween parades and neighborhood trick-or-treating events. Check your local Y, the New York City Parks and Recreation Department website, Community BIDs (business improvement district), and other neighborhood organizations that bring together agencies, businesses, and families. “There are great Halloween events happening all across the city,” says Marty Forth, Senior Director of Teen Programs and Services at the YMCA of Greater New York. “And there’s safety in numbers.”

2. Canvas the Building: Sometimes trick-or-treating means never having to leave one’s home, especially if you live in an apartment building, high rise, or housing complex. Find out what Halloween happenings are planned in your building or residential complex and if your building isn’t hosting an event, contact your super, building management company, or co-op president to find out why. (Many newly constructed buildings have common areas and rec rooms that are ideal for hosting group events.)

3. Keep Costumes In Sight: “In an urban setting, trick-or-treaters are likely to cross the street often,” says Forth, “so avoid costumes and masks that hinder sight lines and always adhere to stop signs, traffic lights, and street crossings.”

4. Dress Appropriately: Late October can be awfully cold: if necessary, that winter coat and hat takes precedence over that killer costume.

5. Don’t Go At It Alone: If both parents are working or unavailable to join their child trick-or-treating, arrangements should be made in advance for the child to be accompanied by a caring adult, aunt, uncle, godparent, neighbor, or the parents of a school friend.

6. Stick to the Stoop: Trick-or-treating exchanges should occur in building doorway entrances, house porches, or brownstone stoops; there is never any compelling reason to enter a stranger’s home. “The most important thing is that the child should always remain within the parent or guardian’s line of sight,” explains Forth. “Don’t wait by the curb while your child goes trick-or-treating; stick close by their side, especially around houses that are heavily adorned with Halloween decorations that might obscure visibility.”

7. Before Night Falls: Even if your child is dressed as a vampire, you should aim to complete your trick-or-treating rounds before nightfall. “That’s one way to avoid some of the uglier aspects that have attached themselves to Halloween—like shaving cream fights and ‘egging houses,’” says Forth.

8. Good-For-You Goodies: For those planning on spending Halloween handing out holiday goodies, consider investing in healthier options. These might include individually sealed string cheese, 100-calorie baked treats, packs of sugar-free gum, and bags of low-fat popcorn. “And remember that inexpensive prizes and gifts—stickers, costume jewelry, marbles, baseball cards, and comic books–can be fun alternatives to food, too,” says Forth.

9. Inspect, Don’t Expect: Once trick-or-treating is through, it is the parent or guardian’s job to carefully inspect and edit their child’s sugary bounty. “Immediately dispose of anything that has been previously opened, anything that isn’t properly sealed, anything that looks water damaged or tampered with in any capacity,” warns Forth. “If you cannot confirm where it’s been or what’s been done to it, simply eliminate it. That goes for healthy-seeming treats like apples, too—washing a piece of fruit given to you by a stranger is not sufficient.”

10. Conspicuous Consumption: Once you have had a chance to inspect the loot, it’s time to set some limits. “It’s important to establish with your child what healthy consumption might look like,” says Forth. “Setting those boundaries in an open and collaborative way can be a good way to instill lessons about healthy living and the importance of willpower.”