Oh boy, it’s Vancouver’s Christmas! That’s what I call Halloween. People in Metro Vancouver seem to get more excited about dressing up than they do for good old Saint Nick. If you want proof, just visit a costume shop to see the fights over French maid costumes and Barack Obama masks. Come on now, people. Despite what the non-parents out there say, let us not forget that Halloween is really for the kids. 

Speaking to my niece and nephew, it turns out some kids still go door-to-door for candy instead of the easier, and arguably safer, shopping mall trick-or-treat route. When I asked the two tweens about Halloween, they were all too excited to tell me about their costumes and annual haunting of the neighbourhood:

Wererwolf: “At 6PM you go house-to-house, and you go, ‘Ding-dong, trick-or-treat’, and you get the candy. So on and so on.”

Uncle: “Do you go by yourself?”

Hippy Girl: “Sometimes I go with my dad, sometimes with my dad and my friends’ parents. We always go to neighbours’ houses.”

Uncle: “Hey sis, any other rules you make your kids live by, or is it survival of the fittest out there?”

Mom: “They have to dress warmly, which it’s hard to convince them to do because the jackets cover their costumes.”

Werewolf: “We don’t want to be super fat!”

Mom: “They can’t wear full-face masks.”

Uncle: “Why ya gotta kill your kids’ Halloween buzz by telling them they can’t wear masks?”

Mom: “The masks make it hard for them to see. A lot of the time, there’s Halloween stuff on the lawns they could trip over. I also worry about the cars because some parents drive their kids to the neighbourhood for Halloween. 

My sister’s point about cars speaks to this nifty campaign. To remind us that there will be more kids on the roads this weekend, The Community is giving out these Trick-or-Treat bags with the words, “You’re not expecting a child to run into traffic” printed on them (see picture below). If you’d like a free bag, you can pick one up at any Atkinson & Terry Insurance broker in Metro Vancouver.

Besides the cars and kids factor, articles like this one and public service announcements like this have some great suggestions on how to keep the little ghosts and goblins safe this year.

My sis is crazy organized. Her kids have a trick-o-treat route, a curfew, and instructions for her brood to follow on Saturday. She even has a pumpkin carving kit! Now that’s some scary stuff. But if you’re like the rest of us who might not have thought about kids safety at this time of year, so now is the time to ask: how will I make sure Halloween is safe for kids this year?