The Ultimate Family Guide to Trick or Treating: Safety, Fun, and Smart Tips

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Halloween Trick or Treating is one of our favorite family activities.  The whole family gets excited leading up to it, planning and mapping out everything we will do.  We have 4 kids and have been trick or treating with our family for over 10 years and have learned lots of dos and don’ts along the way.

If you have kids under 12 this is for you.  When your kids are over 12 they are usually not wanting to do the ‘family thing’ and would rather be out having fun with their friends.  So embrace the Halloween fun with your kids while you can because it ends so fast.

Plan Ahead

Depending on where you live you may have to leave your own neighborhood to trick or treat.  Plan this ahead of time.  Know where you plan to go and where you will park.  The streets get really busy on Halloween and you don’t want to be driving on side streets in neighborhoods as that becomes a bit of a risk for the kiddos out.

If both adults in your home are going trick or treating with your kids who will hand out candy at your house?  For our family we sometimes have a grandparent that comes over to hand out the candy.  Sometimes though we haven’t had anyone available though.  So in this case we leave a bowl of candy on the porch and kids just help themselves https://amzn.to/4mjCXNU

Some people worry about kids taking everything but in our experience it has worked out just fine.

Preparing Your Kids

When helping your kids choose their costumes make sure to plan for the weather.  This will be really unique to where you live and the type of weather you have.  More often than not we have snow so our costumes need to be able to be altered with coats on top or underneath them.

Ponchos over the costumes can work well for rain so be sure to grab some just in case https://amzn.to/4nqGw5F.

What will your kids carry their candy in?  Little pumpkin buckets are really cute but they fill up pretty quick.  We prefer bags like these https://amzn.to/46oBPTj

These bags can get heavy if your kids get a good haul of candy.  So be sure to prepare.  Where will extra candy go, should you have a wagon with another bag?  For our kids they are pretty specific about not mixing their candy with their siblings so we do bring a wagon (this one we use for everything https://amzn.to/4nccaEn ) and each child brings something to put their extra candy in.  For our older kids for the last few years it has been a pillow case which is exactly what I used to use when I was a kid.

Make sure to be aware of safety concerns.  At the moment when you are trick or treating with you kids their excitement is gong to take over and they may not want to hear what you are saying.  So before you head out talk about the direction you are going to go.  Are you planning to stay on one side of the road or go back and forth across the road.  For our family rule we do not go on to the next house until everyone makes it back to the wagon.

Must Have Supplies

As your kids get older what you need may change but these are our must have list for trick or treating:

• Flashlights: https://amzn.to/3Ia2cUS
• Stainless steel water bottles (the plastic ones can fall and break) https://amzn.to/4mjEinU
• Extra candy bags
• Extra Hat and Mittens
• Kleenex (it gets chilly at night and noses may run)
• A warm drink for mom and dad: https://amzn.to/42s0h4I

As the Night is Ending

In our family one parent often will take the younger ones home as they are done before the older kids.  Sometimes the older kids will stay out for quite a while.  Have a plan before you leave so you know what the plan will be.

Your kids will want to eat candy along the way so be sure you have a plan on what the limit will be or what your individual rule will be.

When we get home every year our kids sort out all their candy.  This is the favorite part to see everything they got.  Mom and dad get excited too because they get what the kids don’t like!

I hope this helps you plan for a spook-tacular Halloween with your family.  For some more tips on family tips and trips be sure to check out Blog – Together We Can Travel.