Halloween ideas come in all sorts. What are the best Halloween costumes? Where are the best places to trick-or-treat? How much candy can I eat before the kids wake up? So many questions, so little time. With Halloween coming up next week, I want to share some of my favourite Halloween ideas to keep your kids safe while roaming the streets taking candy from strangers.
I can remember being 10-years-old and running up and down the streets at all hours on Halloween night collecting candy unsupervised until everyone turned their lights off. I can even recall a time when a random townhouse in a nearby complex turned their home into a haunted house, and we just walked in unsupervised, with no concern for stranger danger.
Being a mom in 2022 is a lot different from when I was a kid, so I’ve been scrambling for some Halloween ideas to prevent the trouble I got into as a kid, or worse. When we were young, we could go as far as we want, as long as we want, and no one batted an eye. Today, the idea of letting my 11-year-old niece walk home from school alone seems like a stretch, never mind hopping door to door unsupervised. We trick-or-treat with an 11-year-old, two 7-year-olds and a 3-year-old, and I can’t stop thinking ahead to the day they don’t want mom to take them out anymore.
Now, I’m not mad at it. I’d be thrilled to stay cozy inside and reap the candy benefits when they get home after a night of laboured trick-or-treating. Yes, there are benefits to your children outgrowing you, especially on Halloween, but I can’t say I’m not concerned about letting them roam alone at night. Because of this, I’ve been checking out some common technology that we might be able to use on Halloween night to keep our children safe.
Here are my favourite Halloween ideas to keep your kids safe:
Smartphones
This may seem like a no-brainer, but I know plenty of children nowadays that don’t have their own smartphone. Don’t get me wrong, I am in full support of this. Many people choose to wait until high school to get their kids their own devices. However, I would make the argument that if your kids are starting to trick-or-treat—or go anywhere—on their own, it might be time to hand over a smartphone of their own, even if it’s just for emergency calls.
The idea of my kids getting into trouble, being in danger, or even just getting lost crosses my mind often when thinking about sending them out on their own. On Halloween there will be a ton of people around and lots of excitement in the air, so plenty can go wrong.
You don’t have to give your kids the most expensive phones on the market. The Xiaomi 12 Lite is $439, the Redmi Note 11 is $326, and the Google Pixel 7 is $599. That is compared to phones like my Samsung Galaxy S22+ for $1469.99 or the S22 Ultra starting at $1649.99. If this doesn’t work, let your kid borrow your smartphone for the night. It costs nothing, so this might be one of the Halloween ideas that could give you both some piece of mind.
Tracking FOBs
This sounds like I’m a helicopter parent, but hear me out. We put tracking FOBs on our keys, in our wallets and even on our remotes. Why not equip your child with a tracker on Halloween night? Depending on your kid, you may want to make sure they aren’t somewhere they aren’t supposed to be—I spent many a night in random fields when I was supposed to be at a sleepover or something similar.
More importantly, though, this will just make sure your kids are safe while they trick-or-treat on Halloween night. Should anything ever happen, you’ll be able to hop on your smartphone and check their location in an instant. They come in all shapes and sizes, depending on your needs. One of the more notable brands of tracking FOBS is Tile. Other major companies like Samsung have their own versions, but you can also hop on Amazon and find lesser known versions for a fraction of the price. They can even be here quickly, so a great Halloween idea to keep them safe!
Smartwatches
I’ll be honest, though they do make smartwatches small enough for kids, and even some branded ones marketed directly toward them, I don’t love the idea of my children constantly connected, or counting steps. This is one case though where a smartwatch may come in handy. Just one of many Halloween ideas to keep the little ones safe. Not only will it let you know where they are at any given moment, you can also check in when they get home and see where they went.
Though a tracking FOB does something similar, for just a bit more money, you can get a smartwatch that has all sorts of other features, but still keeps tabs on your children. There are a few options out there. Fitbit makes the Versa 4 for $299.99, Charge 5 for $199 and Sense 2 for $399.40 that all use their own GPS instead of your smartphone. The Garmin vívofit 4 Activity Tracker does too, and it’s the most affordable option at $87.99. You can really splurge and check out the Google Pixel Watch for $449, which does what the others do, and then some.
These Halloween ideas might see like overkill, but technology is becoming more and more common in our day-to-day lives, and why not use it if it can add a layer of safety to our kids lives? Trick-or-treating isn’t any more unsafe than when we were kids, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use what is available to us. Keep your kids safe, and your mind at ease with these Halloween ideas to keep your kids safe!
