Halloween

If you’ve had a baby in the past year, you’re probably excited about celebrating your baby’s first Halloween at the end of the month. Here are some ways to make their first Halloween memorable, fun and safe:

• Dress them in a costume that is safe. If they aren’t walking yet, put them in a wagon or stroller and incorporate their mode of transportation into their costume. (Pinterest has some great ideas!) If they can walk, make sure that they have on sturdy shoes and that there is nothing on their costume that could trip them.
• Create a Halloween costume that involves wearing your baby. We’ve seen baby spiders and mom spider webs, baby monkeys and mom bananas, baby bumblebees and mom flowers and more. Get creative and you’re sure to be the talk of the Halloween party and the winner of the costume contest!
• Don’t go overboard on the costume. There’s always a chance that your child could be irritated by anything overly complicated to assemble. So keep it simple… your child will be cute in anything he or she wears!
• Avoid using make-up on tiny ones – especially if your baby or toddler is prone to sensitive skin.
• Look for alternative Halloween celebrations. Places like malls, churches and community centers usually host them and these celebrations may be more family-friendly for small kids than traditional trick-or-treating and usually take place indoors or during the daytime hours.
• Avoid hard candy. It can easily become lodged in babies’ small throats. Or avoid the candy altogether and offer them healthy treats once you get back home. (If they don’t have older siblings they won’t even know what they’re missing!)
• Take a picture with a pumpkin every year. Start a fun tradition of taking a photo with a similar-sized pumpkin every year. It will be fun to look back and see how much your child has grown each year and how they transition from being the same size as a pumpkin to being able to hold a pumpkin in just a few years’ time.
• Create a new family tradition. Plan to visit the same pumpkin patch every year or host a pumpkin carving party. Your baby will obviously be too young to appreciate it now, but will look forward to these special events once he or she gets a little older.