The Hottest Halloween Items of 2022

October is the best time of the year for people who absolutely love Halloween! This year, companies like McDonald’s and Squishmallows are taking part of the fun. Get them before they run out of stock or disappear after a limited amount of time. Bloomberg reported that McDonald’s has announced the return of the trick-or-treating trio. These are three, colorful, Happy Meal Pails that can double as a carrying case for kids who want to go trick-or-treating.  These colorful Halloween buckets first debuted in 1986, and could cause some nostalgia for parents who had one when they were kids. The Happy … Continue reading

Halloween Events for Kids

Your kids might be super excited about celebrating Halloween. While some Halloween events are specifically geared for children, there are others that might be too scary for little ones to attend. Here is a list of some kid-friendly Halloween events that are taking place this year. Disney Store Halloween Dress Rehearsal Event The Disney Store near you might be having a Halloween Dress Rehearsal Event. Children must be at least three years of age in order to participate. Kids are to arrive dressed in their favorite Disney character costume. The event will take place on Friday, October 5, 2016, between … Continue reading

3 Important Halloween Safety Tips

Halloween can be fun, exciting, and just a little bit scary at times. The goal, of course, is to find ways for your kids to safely have fun, and avoid having to take a scary trip to an emergency room. The way to do that is to follow these Halloween safety tips. Overall, the safety tips that apply specifically to the celebration of Halloween aren’t that different from day-to-day safety tips. For example, you have probably taught your children to look both ways before crossing the street. For whatever reason, kids (and some adults) forget about basic safety as they … Continue reading

Halloween Safety

It’s the night before Halloween. The kids are getting anxious to get out there and start trick-or-treating. Before long ghosts and goblins will be running the streets looking for some Halloween fun, but don’t forget to remind your kids about the importance of staying safe on Halloween this year. Most kids know that they’re supposed to look both ways before crossing the street, but sometimes in the excitement of everything they forget the basic things they’ve been taught from the time they were two. Remind them to never go into a stranger’s home. If they tell you to come in … Continue reading

Last-Minute Halloween Reminders

Halloween is still a few days away, but trick-or-treating has already started in my neck of the woods. In Wisconsin, individual municipalities are given the power to determine their own trick-or-treat times. In recent years, many communities have designated the weekend prior to October 31st as the official period where kids can “legally” go door-to-door collecting free candy. Safety is the main motivator behind the move. Law makers believe it’s safer for children to trick-or-treat on a weekend when the traffic is lighter. In addition, having kids hit the streets in costume on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon increases the … Continue reading

Tips for Visiting the Cemetery

It isn’t unheard of for genealogists to go and visit cemeteries at any time of the year, not just when it is close to Halloween. Here are a few tips to follow that will make your visit to the graveyard result in good genealogy research, and keep you safe, at the same time. Before you visit the cemetery, you should take the time to gather up some very useful items. Bring your smartphone. Use it to call for help if you fall and get injured or become lost. Use it to take a photo of the graves of your ancestors, … Continue reading

Fourth of July Pet Safety

On Friday one of the DJ’s for my local radio station mentioned upcoming Fourth of July celebrations, and she warned dog owners about fireworks. She said that she sees more fliers go up for missing dogs on July 5 than just about any other day of the year, all because of the fireworks noise. It’s something that never occurred to me, but it makes a lot of sense. Depending on where you live and how loud noise from fireworks might be in your yard, Independence Day, while fun for us humans, could prove frightening for our pets. If you keep … Continue reading

Halloween Fun With Your Baby

Last Halloween, we did not go trick-or-treating. My son was only 6 months old and we did not think it would go over well. Plus, it might have looked pretty silly to ask for candy when it was clear we would be the only ones eating it. This year, however, we will be taking him trick-or-treating with both sets of grandparents. Some of our friends and family will have treats that are toddler friendly and we think that our son will get into it now that he is old enough to grasp the concept. We are also working on “please” … Continue reading

Safe Halloween Makeup

Halloween is almost upon us and some of you may even be dressing up for parties now. One thing you may not think about is the safety of the makeup you use on yourself or your children. While makeup is preferable to masks (it is not as likely to block your vision), you still have to use care in choosing your makeup. Just as beauty makeup can be unsafe, so can Halloween makeup. Here are a few tips to ensure you have a safe Halloween: – Don’t even use something as makeup that wasn’t specifically meant to be used on … Continue reading

Halloween Candy—Yours, Mine, Ours

How many pieces of candy do you allow your children to devour on Halloween night? My parents had a strict seven-piece limit, which was imposed as soon as we returned home with our haul. Of course, that rule never sat well with my older brother, who devised his own counter-plan, whereby he stuffed as many snack-sized candy bars in his mouth as possible while roaming the neighborhood. So much for parental control. Ironically, once he became a parent himself my brother suddenly saw the benefit of placing restrictions on candy consumption. These days he allows his young son the privilege … Continue reading