Keep Your Home Safe this Halloween
October is coming to a close and with it comes the spookiest day of the year: All Hallow’s Eve.
When the day of mischief comes, you need to be prepared for both tricks and treats. Not only do you need to be careful about driving with all the kids around, you also need to keep your home safe. After all, the night is dark and full of terrors. Here are a few ways to stay out of trouble this Halloween.
Keep your home safe for trick-or-treaters (and yourself)
If you live in a community containing a large number of families with children, prepare for a busy night at the door. Halloween brings a lot of people on and off your property, and many of them are young children. Keep the path to your door well-lit and clear of any tripping hazards.
A well-lit yard is a great thing, so don’t try to illuminate everything by jack-o-lantern. The last thing you need is your house burning down or somebody slipping and falling on your property.
Halloween not your thing? That’s okay.
For those who would rather not spend an evening giving away candy to miniature supernatural beasts, bite-size superheroes and pretty princesses, the best thing to do to let people know you don’t want to be disturbed is to leave your porch light off. This is a generally accepted way of letting people know there’s no candy to be had at your door. However, it doesn’t always do the job.
If a subtle hint isn’t working, make it clear with a sign. Literally. Make sure your sign is large, well-lit, and located in an easy to see place so kids see it before getting too excited.
Finally, if you aren’t giving out candy, chances are you're not into Halloween enough to decorate your house, but in case you did, remove the decor or you’ll confuse trick-or-treaters.
Protect yourself from pranks
Despite the popular fascination with fear and death, Halloween is actually supposed to be about fun, too. Unfortunately, someone else’s particular brand of fun can be another person’s nightmare.
Halloween has long been a night for a few bad apples to stir up mischief and cause undue headaches by vandalizing property. Most of the time these pranks are frustrating, but largely harmless, forcing people to clean egg or toilet paper off of their property. However, sometimes things get a little more serious.
It can be a challenge to keep your home safe from being targeted by pranksters, but there are a few steps you can take:
- Keep the yard well-lit: darkness is the perfect cover for mischief, so don’t give them darkness. There are some very bright, motion-activated yard lights you can set up that will do a good job of keeping troublemakers away while not draining your electricity.
- Be welcoming: If you are friendly, you will be less likely to be a target by the neighborhood pranksters.
- Make it look like you’re not home: Turn off your main lights inside and draw the curtains. If it looks like you’re out of town, and not just ignoring trick-or-treaters, you might be overlooked.
Keep your home safe on Halloween – but still try to make it fun.