Easily Protect Your Home on Halloween

It’s almost that time of year when the ghouls and goblins come knocking at doors, asking for a trick or a treat. If you aren’t home because you are enjoying Halloween festivities or taking your own children to knock on doors, the last thing you want is for the trick to be on you. Having a good home alarm system on your home is one way to protect it from tricksters with far less than pure motives. However, there are other things that you can do to make sure you’re keeping your home safe inside and out among the Halloween mischief.

1. Inside and Outside – Candles

It can be very tempting to light candles inside and outside of the home in order to give it that eerie glow on Halloween night. Unfortunately, Trick-or-Treaters can easily knock over lit candles that are outside and lit candles can also pose a fire hazard inside the house, especially when they aren’t supervised. LED tea lights or strings of orange decorative lights can be great ways to safely light the home for Halloween.

2. Inside – Keep the Lights On

When you are out trick-or-treating with the kiddos or you are at that Halloween party you’ve waited all year for, you should leave lights on so that no one knows that you aren’t home. While there may be a lot of Trick-or-Treaters around the house, thieves may try and make their way in through the back or an area they won’t be easily seen.

3. Outside – Surveillance

If you don’t already have video surveillance outside, now is the time. This can be part of a good home alarm system. With outside surveillance, you can catch those that vandalize your property. Unfortunately, spray paint, toilet paper, and smashed pumpkin pranks are common on and around Halloween.

4. Outside – Jack-O-Lanterns

There’s nothing like having a good old Jack-O-Lantern sitting on the front porch, but do you use real candles? You may want to replace those candles with LED lights so that you don’t have an unsupervised flame outside. Unfortunately, Jack-O-Lanterns can be kicked or tipped over and that means the flame within could escape.

5. Inside – Strange Visitors

It is very important that you not let children and their parents inside your home during Trick-or-Treat. A thief may be counting on this because it helps them case homes. All it takes is one peek inside and your home becomes a target. Sitting outside at the bottom of your porch steps is best. It keeps children from having to walk up steps and keeps thieves’ noses out of your business.

6. Outside – Handing Out Candy

You don’t necessarily have to stay home in order to hand out candy. If you are part of a church that does a “truck-or-treat” event or any other organization that sets up in a parking lot and hands out candy, that may be your best bet. It keeps thieves from seeing where you live. Just remember that you want to set your home alarm system before you leave so that your home is safe while you’re gone.

7. Outside – Outdoor Lights

Make sure your outdoor lights are working. Having security lights and other exterior lights lit up means people with less than pure motives will most likely stay off of your property. If they aren’t working, replace bulbs accordingly. Better lighting also helps outdoor video surveillance pick up vandals and thieves that may come onto the property.

8. Inside and Out – Decorations

Make sure that indoor and outdoor decorations are a reasonable distance away from lights. Even if a strand of lights seems safe, it’s just better to be safe than sorry when decorating. There is an unfortunate history of strand lights catching holiday decorations on fire.

9. Outside – Know Trick-or-Treating Hours

Make sure you know Trick-or-Treat hours. No one should be trick-or-treating after a certain time. If they are and they are knocking on your door, don’t answer the door.

10. Inside – Lock it Up

Even if you’re home, make sure you keep your doors and windows locked at all times. You could be handing out candy on your front porch and someone could be walking in your back door or climbing through a window knowing they have a few minutes without getting caught because you’re busy handing out candy.

Let SPS Fire & Security Protect Your Home

So here you have ten tips for keeping your home secure and safe during Halloween. It is a fun time of year and there is nothing like seeing happy children getting treated while wearing a wide array of costumes. What’s not so fun is realizing your home has been broken into and that you have become a victim. Remember some key points, which are to arm your home alarm system, keep it locked, never let strangers inside of your house, and keep everything safely lit up.

To learn more about how to protect your home, call us today at 585-770-0348. We serve the Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo, NY areas.