Trick-or-Treating Hours & Tips 2025

• Plan your child’s trick-or-treat route and make sure they know it.
• Help your child choose a costume that is safe and comfortable. Avoid costumes with long, flowing fabric or masks that can obstruct vision.
• Make sure your child’s costume is reflective so they can be seen by drivers.
• Give your child a flashlight or a glow stick so they can see and be seen.
• Accompany children under the age of 12 while trick-or-treating.
• Check your child’s candy before they eat it. Throw away any candy that is unwrapped, homemade, or looks suspicious.

It is okay not to participate in Halloween or trick-or-treating, for whatever reason.

One of the best and oldest ways to signal that you are receptive to trick-or-treaters is by leaving a porch light on. Of course, this isn’t foolproof. Many of us leave porch and garage lights on for safety and security. And with many trick-or-treating times moved up for safety and/or for the youngest ones, it may be hard to tell if there is a light on or not anyway.

So, in addition to the light, you may also want to consider putting out a sign, especially if you are not participating, if you don’t want to spend the evening trying to ignore the doorbell.

Like it or not, food allergies are more common and probably here to stay. While you probably aren’t handing out shellfish…though if you are, please leave your address in the comments below…you might be more surprised about how many food allergies are related to what you are handing out.

Anyone with school-aged children now is certainly aware of peanut allergies. Common food allergies extend to tree nuts, wheat, soy, eggs, and milk, any of which may be found in common candies. And even if the regular-sized version doesn’t have any of these items, there’s no guarantee that the smaller fun-sized versions won’t. And even if they don’t specifically have any of these items, they could have trace amounts if they were produced on equipment or in processing plants that do use these ingredients.

The easiest way around this challenge is to offer non-edible treats. Small toys, stickers, bookmarks, bubbles, fun clay, bouncy balls, crayons, etc., can all be great alternatives, or at least options in addition to the candy you would like to offer. The other benefit…you can give out any extras again next year!

Children coming to your door with a blue pumpkin may signify they may be on the Autism spectrum. But what may that mean for you?

Many with Autism may be non-verbal. This means that they may not say “trick-or-treat,” “thank you,” answer a question about their costume, or verbally respond in any way. Remember that they aren’t trying to be rude, disrespectful, or ungrateful. To help them, you can invite them to take a treat, wish them a “happy Halloween,” or compliment them on their costume.

Speaking of treats. Similar to those with food allergies, those with Autism may also have heightened food sensitivities. What you can do to help is offer a variety of types of candies (i.e., chewy vs hard) or offer non-food treats or options.

These children may especially experience heightened senses. So loud or sudden noises, sudden visuals, flashing lights, sudden movements, etc., may all be overly frightening and even feel threatening. If you can modify or control effects for different trick-or-treaters, this could be helpful. If you can’t and still want this type of display, it would help to provide a warning sign so that those children or families can decide whether to bypass your home.

Of course, someone could be Autistic and not be carrying a blue pumpkin. Some families may not want to call attention to their child in this way, fearing that it can lead to adverse attention. It can help, though, to keep these challenges in mind in those instances, and they are also nice things to adopt for all trick-or-treaters.

You can also help signal that you have tried to make a more autism-receptive trick-or-treating experience by placing a blue pumpkin or sign out.