Halloween

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

West Islanders brace for a mid-week Halloween on October 31 expecting warmer weather and bouts of potential rainfall.

Falling on a Thursday, many families are making a longweekend out of the holiday this year.

While some decorate their homes weeks ahead of the holiday, others decorate up to the same day filling their neighbourhoods with spooky wonders. The West Island is known, even to out of town visitors, as a busy hub for children and families that participate in this fun filled event. West Island has the suburban infrastructure charm that resembles Halloween “in the movies”.

Safety tips are being shared in school marketing materials, city and municipal websites, social media and by police organizations. Some of these tips include wearing light coloured costumes or adding visibility tape, choosing costumes that are flame retardant, using make-up instead of masks, adjusting costume lengths to avoid trips and falls, remaining on sidewalks to allow for traffic flow and reading local warning materials on how to best stay safe. For parents who are not available to accompany their children on a mid-week Halloween trick-or-treating outing should make arrangements with a trusted adult or plan for a weekend activity instead. Some cities and municipalities offer “Halloween on Ice” and other local activities on the weekend.

The trick-or-treating portion of Halloween takes place between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and it is advisable not to trick or treat beyond 8 p.m. Trick-or-treaters should avoid homes that are not decorated as it generally indicates that they are not participating homes. Homeowners that wish not to receive creepy crawly visitors should avoid all Halloween decorations and turn off their porch lights. Haunted houses for small children should be avoided. Getting spooked is fun, but feeling terrified is not so fun.

While sifting through candies at home, parents should be present to do safety for consumption verifications during the triage. Any questionable packaging should be thrown out.

Last but not least, all participants must have fun! n