4There are many things to consider when you help your child choose a Halloween costume. Make sure it is age appropriate, that it falls within your price range and is safe for your child to wear. A quick examination of the costume will help ensure your child's safety on Halloween night.Face paint
Reflective tape
- Check the fit of the costume. A long flowing costume may make your little princess look like Halloween royalty, but can quickly become a tripping hazard. Safe Halloween costumes should not go past your child's ankles and should be easy for your child to walk in. Observe your child wearing the costume to make that it does impede her mobility.Be sure that it is fire resistant. Halloween costumes are made out of many types of materials and not all are fire resistant. Read the tag on your child's costume to make sure that it will not easily catch on fire. Your child's costume might come into contact with jack-o-lanterns that have burning candles and other types of outdoor, decorative Halloween candles.Examine the costume for choking hazards. Highly detailed and embellished costumes make for very cute pictures but might be dangerous to your toddler. Look for oversized buttons, sequence, and costume attachments that present a choking hazard to your child. Remove the choking hazards yourself or purchase a simpler costume.Choose make-up over masks. Halloween masks may be quicker to put on, but face paint is less likely to interfere with your child's field of vision. Recreate your child's mask of choice with a simple, non-toxic Halloween face paint. When your child can see clearly, he is less likely to trip, run into things or cross the street at an unsafe time.Buy a costume that is brightly colored. Bright colors, especially neon colors are easier to see a night. If your child opts for something dark, make sure that it has reflective properties or a portion that glows in the dark. Make any Halloween costume more safe when you add reflective tape to it's edges. Get creative and cut interesting shapes such as stars, lightening bolts and polka dots out of the tape and add them to your child's costume.
