Halloween Proof Your House

Want to get your home ready for the big scary day? Well here are a few tips to help you get started! I found them on DIYLife

Halloween Trick or Treat-ers Safety

1. Make the outside of your house a safe place for trick or treaters to roam. Pick up branches, rocks and other debris from your front yard, walkway, and steps. Remove flowerpots, yard ornaments, hoses, and any other outdoor accessories that can easily tip or cause people to trip.

2. Use strings of Christmas lights to illuminate the walkway and front door. Afraid the bulbs will be broken or removed in fits of Halloween mischief ? Try rope lights instead. Just make sure the ropes are secured in place so they don't fall and become a tripping hazard.

3. Decorate the front of house with harmlessly hair-raising props. Refrain from using real household items like shovels, pitchforks, or heavy buckets for authenticity's sake. Obviously fake, rubber-tipped items are the safest way to go. What you lose in authenticity you can make up for in creativity!

4. Put pets in the basement of bedroom before trick or treaters begin to arrive. Even friendly pets can become agitated with all those new visitors.

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Halloween Fire Safety

1. Keep your carved pumpkin from being a fire hazard. Jack o'Lanterns are a Halloween favorite, but an illuminated gourd can cause a house fire if the candle inside tips over. Rather than placing a votive directly inside your pumpkin, place it in a tuna fish can first. The can is short so the light will still radiate, but if the candle tips over, it will fall into the heavy tuna can; the tin will smother the flame before it has a chance to spread.

2. Keep Jack O'Lanterns away from high-traffic areas, dark corners, and flammable materials like curtains and couches. You want to reduce the chances that pets or costumed (and masked) kids will tip or trip over a lit pumpkin. The best, safest spot for Jack to reside? Inside the fireplace, where he can be the focal point of the room.

3. Try skipping real candles altogether and using a string of Christmas lights to illuminate your carved pumpkin. Lay the lights on some tin foil at the bottom of the pumpkin, then make a hole in the back of the gourd, string them lights through, and plug them into a nearby outlet. Another fire-free option: LED votives.

So all you need now is a bowl full of candy and some really cute costumes!