Keep your friends and family safe this Halloween

With Halloween just around the corner, make sure you enjoy the spooky celebrations without having to experience any horrors.

As the evenings get darker and colder, there are many traditions to celebrate the spooky season so here are some top tips for keeping yourself, your friends and your family safe whilst doing just some of them like trick or treating, dressing up in costumes and carving pumpkins.

Remember Halloween costumes and decorations can be highly flammable

As fancy dress costumes are toys, it means that they are not manufactured to the same safety standards and go through the same checks as normal clothing. This often means that they can ignite almost instantly and burn far faster.

When wearing Halloween costumes, keep away from naked flames and other heat sources and that includes keeping naked flames – such as candles in pumpkins – out of the path of trick or treaters or decorations that could catch fire. Try LED or flameless battery-powered candles to help reduce the fire risk – just ensure the battery compartment is secure.

Wearing layers can also help to not only keep you warm but provide a layer of protection between the costume and the skin if a costume did catch fire.

Be visible and road safe before heading out trick or treating

It is important all year round to be visible when out and about by wearing bright or reflective clothing and to be aware of your surroundings and know about road safety.

With the clocks changing, the evenings will be getting darker even earlier – meaning that by Halloween it will be dusk by 5 o’clock. Try adding reflective tape to Halloween costumes and wear fluorescent glow stick jewellery and/ or accessories to stay visible.

To help make it easier to be aware of surroundings when out trick or treating:

• Accompany children under 12
• Encourage older children to put away their mobile phones so that they can concentrate on their surroundings and have a pre-planned route and emergency contact
• Save masks for indoors and opt for face painting instead so it is still possible to look and listen for traffic

Know what to do if something was to go wrong

Ahead of Halloween, make sure that you but also any children know what to do if their costume was to catch fire. Stop drop and roll - practice stopping, dropping to the ground, covering your face with your hands, and rolling over a few times to put out the flames.

Lollipops, hard candy and mini eggs in particular can pose a chocking risk to young children so save the treats to enjoy when back at home. Learn more about choking prevention on the Child’s Accident Prevention Trust website.

In an emergency, always ring 999.