This year, with Halloween on a Saturday, there will be lots of treats to be given and a few tricks to remember when knocking on a new door.  The 'official' Trick or Treat times in Lawton are from 6p-8p.  That's when the most candy will be available and the most people will be watching for your little ghost or ghoul.

Rules about:  The Costume

Make sure your kid has some kind of reflective something on their costume.  Even if you are walking with them, they still need to be visible to motorists in case they pull a sugar-high run across a street.  You can get reflective tape neon necklaces, shoelaces and a million other things in almost any store selling Halloween anything.

Take a picture of your kid in their costume -- and know what they are wearing underneath.  This is a really protective thing -- but if you let your kid go out with other people, you'll want to be 100% sure what they have on should they lose their way and you can't find them.

Rules about:  Collecting the Candy

Look for the porch light.  Halloween etiquette says you don't knock on a door if the porch light is dark.  That is just good manners.

Knock or ring ONCE.  Count to 100.  If no one answers the door, move on to the next house.

If your kid is too young to walk, you can collect candy with them.  If your kid is over 14, there is probably more tricks going on than treats so make sure you know where they are going and don't crowd out the little kids.

Do you check the candy or not?  In my house, I check the candy -- mostly to pick out the good stuff so I can have a stash, too.  The stories that scared our parents about bad things in candy are mostly urban legend but it never hurts to go through it to make sure your kid is safe.

Kids have a limit when Trick or Treating moves from FUN to SOMETHING MY PARENTS MAKE ME DO FOR HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS.  It's not a competition.  When they stop having fun, pack it up and go home.

Thank you is mandatory for my kids after getting the goods.  Make it be that way for yours, too.

Rules about:  Kids Coming In The House

It always makes me nervous when my kid goes into a house.  Even the nice little ladies who look like the Old Lady in the Shoe could turn out to be the witch who eats the kids in that other story.  Well, probably not.  However, the porch is the line I ask my kids not to cross.  To protect them and to protect any valuables that might be knocked over by a swinging, candy-filled bag.

Rules about:  Eating Candy

We have a no-limit for Halloween Night candy rule in our home.  By the time my kid goes to bed, he's full of dreams of celery and apples to combat the sugar high.  After that, though, we limit the candy he can have per day.  It only makes sense.  He can also put aside some 'special' candy that he loves and the rest is for the family.  After two weeks -- it all goes in the garbage.  We have enough calories in our life, right?

It's also a good idea to eat dinner before you go out.  Something warm and filling that will keep the candy consumption down and make sure your kids have enough good energy to get through the night!

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