How to Keep Your Home Safe on Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner. It’s a time for fun, friends, tricks and treats to come together on one night of the year. While your ghosts and goblins roam the neighborhood looking for candy, it’s important to remember that the key to having fun on Halloween is making sure you and your loved ones are safe and your home is the most important place to start.

Halloween is one night of the year when your home may be most vulnerable to vandalism and property crime.

Making sure your home is well-lit is one of the most important things you can do to protect it. Check outdoor lights and replace burned-out bulbs before Halloween night. You may also want to consider installing motion-sensor lights. Proper lighting not only discourages burglars and Halloween tricksters, it also helps to prevent falls and makes your home safer for everyone.

A bright, well-lit home should also have a safe front yard and porch area. To keep your home safe for trick-or-treaters, remove anything a child could trip over such as garden hoses, toys and bikes and make sure Halloween decorations don’t block sidewalks or pathways.

If you have taken the time to create a killer haunted house, make sure your spooky decorations are a safe distance from electrical outlets and remember to unplug electronic decorations when not in use.

Halloween is a popular night for vandals and it can also be the perfect opportunity for burglars if you are away from home. A reliable home security system is an excellent deterrent to criminals. According to a Temple University study, a monitored alarm system makes a home three times less likely to be burglarized versus a home without an alarm.

Working smoke alarms are considered one of the best and least expensive means of providing early warning of a potentially deadly fire; now is the perfect time of year to test your smoke alarms and replace batteries.

Jack-o-lanterns can also be scary home fire hazards; they can be easily tipped over by witches on broomsticks or swashbuckling pirates. Consider battery powered pumpkin lights or light sticks to light them instead of candles. If you do use candles on Halloween, remember to extinguish all flames at the end of the night and bring pumpkins indoors.

Halloween is a great opportunity to have fun with friends and family. If you decide to host a spooky get together in your home, you may want to put particularly valuable items away to prevent them from getting broken or stolen. If you plan to serve alcohol: include non-alcoholic drinks as alternatives and designate drivers before the party. The safety of your guests is your responsibility.

If you’re not going to be home on Halloween night, turn off all lights to let trick-or-treaters know not to stop. Lock all doors and windows and set your home alarm system to make sure your home is safe.

A spooky, fun-filled night can also be a scary one if proper safety precautions are not taken, so plan for safety this Halloween to help keep your family, your friends and your home safe.

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