Halloween is quickly approaching, and as a homeowner, you should prepare for the spookiest night of the year as soon as possible.
Besides loading up on candies, adorning your home with frightening trinkets, and purchasing scary and cute costumes for your children, you should also ensure your home’s and loved ones’ safety.
Halloween is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable holidays for children and adults, and people all over America celebrate Halloween with parties or trick or treating. However, Halloween is also when homes are particularly prone to invasions, break-ins, and theft.
So, how can you keep your house safe when those little monsters and witches are roaming the streets, knocking on your door, and your attention is diverted? Here are some practical Halloween home security tips to guide you as a homeowner.
Halloween Safety Tips for Homeowners
The holiday offers many enjoyable aspects, but there are also a few dangers to be aware of. To ensure your safety this Halloween, consider the following home security tips and tricks:
1. Utilize the peephole.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that all the little kids knocking on your door for candy on Halloween are cute and harmless. Before opening the door, you should exercise caution and peek through the peephole to ensure it is a genuine trick-or-treater knocking on your door and not a potential home invader.
2. Install surveillance cameras.
Besides using the peephole, you can install a home security camera on the porch to examine potential intruders thoroughly. Security systems for your home, such as high-quality CCTV cameras, not only offer a better field of view but can also be viewed remotely from wherever you are. It would be best to purchase these systems from reliable and trustworthy home security companies.
3. Place motion-activated lights.
Since thieves are more active while working in the dark, motion-activated lights are essential to have a safe Halloween night. Motion-activated lights give essential home security intelligence by providing a good view of front porch visitors and drawing attention to any suspicious characters lurking around the backyard. They’re also a great deterrent for would-be thieves.
4. Never leave your house unlocked.
If you plan on staying in on Halloween night, ensure all the doors and windows are locked. A break-in poses much more significant risks to people and property than the brief inconvenience of twisting the lock to let in a new group of trick-or-treaters. Ideally, you should also have a deadbolt and a house alarm system activated to alert the police if someone breaks in.
5. Keep an eye on the decorations.
Carving pumpkins and making jack-o-lanterns and other spooky decors are traditional Halloween customs. However, what all those decorations have in common is the ability to spark a fire. An open flame can ignite interior furnishings such as drapes, tablecloths, and even a pile of leaves. Therefore, it would be best to use a battery-operated candle or glow sticks instead of flame.
6. Secure backyard entrances
Intruders love to target the backyards of homes because they offer a discrete entry point. Thieves can easily sneak up to your fence line on Halloween night since they can blend in with the darkness. Therefore it is always good practice to ensure any backyard gates are locked and the fences secured.
7. Set a timer for the lights.
Putting your lights on a timer or automating your home lighting is an excellent technique to fool trick-or-treaters on Halloween if you’ll be away from home. Trick-or-treaters in the neighborhood may feel let down if you don’t answer the door, but their disappointment is a small price to pay compared to having your home burgled.
8. Take your vehicle off the road
If possible, park your vehicle in a garage, and if you don’t have a garage, park it in your driveway. A vehicle parked in a driveway is safer than one left on the street. While most trick-or-treaters happily look to fill their candy bags, not all “trick-or-treaters” have harmless intent. Some have ill intent and may turn the evening into something similar to a scene from The Purge. They could slash tires, scratch car doors with keys, and break windows.
9. Ensure that all security decals and signs are easily visible.
Avoid the mistake of covering your warning signage from home security companies with a Halloween decoration. Instead, ensure that the warning is visible, as it is a significant deterrent for burglars. Additionally, window stickers should also be visible.
10. Set up a home alarm monitoring service
A trustworthy alarm monitoring service is essential if you intend to attend a Halloween party or take advantage of the occasion by taking the whole family on a trip. Using these security systems for your home, you can monitor your property while you are away. Not only would it keep your house safe from burglars, but it would also notify the authorities if a fire breaks out while you are away.
Conclusion
Many people, young and old alike, consider Halloween to be the most exciting holiday of the year. However, it can be quite an inconvenience for homeowners. Not only is your house more visible in the evening, but there are also unidentified people strolling the streets in masks.
Halloween is one of the few opportunities a thief has to thoroughly scope out a neighborhood without running the danger of being exposed. This is why keeping your home’s safety in mind is essential even while you celebrate with loved ones. Consider all the Halloween home security tips mentioned above to have a safe and secure Halloween celebration.
Have a Secured Halloween Trick or Treating Celebration With Alpine Lock and Safe.
If you stick to these guidelines, Halloween will be enjoyable and risk-free. Though taking all these Halloween home security tips may seem excessive, it is better to be cautious than sorry. Remember that regardless of the occasion, we should always aim to secure our homes by placing the best home security systems, utilizing the most reliable locks, and having them installed in our homes by experts like Alpine Lock and safe, a dependable locksmith in Avon. With our years of expertise, you’ll have peace of mind that your family and belongings are safe from harm all year round. Call us now.
