Halloween can be plenty of fun for children. Unfortunately, it has the capacity to turn into a sheer nightmare for them if safety measures are compromised. Let’s face it; whenever there are kids around, one should be extra cautious about safety. Children are well known to get into all sorts of nasty accidents and mishaps while playing around and having fun together. So it is up to us, the adults, to ensure that such undesirable circumstances are kept to a minimum and the possibility of their occurrence is nullified.

Halloween costumes, these days, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. While some are simple to put on and follow uncomplicated designs, others can be rather elaborate and too complicated to be controlled by a child. It is with such Halloween costumes that one has to be extra-careful. While it would be difficult to keep the kids from putting them on (especially, if it’s the rage of the season that year), you can at least do the following to ensure better safety.

1. Ensure the correct size and fit: Choosing the right size of the costumes is very important to ensure that there are no loose folds or extra lengths of the fabric to get in the way while your kids run around in them. If necessary, ask your tailor to make alterations to the costume to bring it down to the right size. With a good fit, your kids will stay comfortable and safe in their Halloween costumes.

2. Choose fire-proof materials: Some kids often get adventurous around Halloween and choose to add a host of risky objects to their list of ‘essential’ Halloween props, like fire. Moreover, with countless lighted Jack-o-Lanterns all around, there is every possibility of an accident. If fire-proof materials are not available, make sure to choose a fabric that does not readily catch fire. Denim and cotton are excellent in this regard.

3. Avoid costumes with sharp metallic accessories or jewelry: Don’t encourage the use of fancy costumes with metallic accessories (such as pointed spikes, sharp studs or horror-themed jewelry with sharp edges) even if they are ‘hot’ that season.

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Re-using Halloween supplies year after year cuts down on your Halloween expenditures over a period of time. These cost-effective measures add up because you’re not paying for new Halloween supplies each year. This amounts to a tremendous savings over time. You must ensure if you are re-using Halloween supplies, that you store all the Halloween items in a large box and mark it “Halloween supplies.”

It also is not a bad idea to list each item that you have stored on the outside of the box. There’s no way that you’ll remember what items you have packed away. So, by enumerating the items on the outside of the box, you will be able to check your inventory without scavenging through the whole box in order to check on your Halloween supplies the following year.

If you were ever disappointed about a party or celebration that you looked forward to as a child but were denied for no reason of your own, then you can empathize with a child who can not have a Halloween party because his parents can’t afford the supplies.

This does not have to happen to you – you don’t have to disappoint your child because you feel that the cost of the Halloween supplies is too much for your budget to handle. You can eliminate this problem and put a smile on your young one’s face again by re-using Halloween supplies.

You can find a slew of discounted Halloween supplies in supermarkets, super stores, party supply stores, and online. Make sure that you purchase mainly those items that can be preserved through storage year after year.

While you will not be able to preserve the pumpkins that you buy this season, you can certainly save the decorations and pens used to decorate the pumpkins.

What we are suggesting is that people need to use their creativity and ingenuity by re-using Halloween supplies. You just need to be pro-active and store your re-usable Halloween items in a safe place, label the box, and remember where you store it.

Here are some suggestions for re-using Halloween supplies as a cost-effective measure:

- Have some oldies records available to play to add to the atmosphere of Halloween. One such oldie would be “Monster Mash” by Bobby Boris Pickett. The song, a No. 1 smash from the week of Halloween in 1962, is best known for knocking the Four Seasons classic Sherry out of the top spot on the Billboard survey.

- In order to make fog each year, build your own fog machine from a PVC pipe and an old picnic cooler.

- Buy re-usable Halloween costumes such as witch’s outfits with brooms, skeletons, vampire, zombies and costumes from other themes of your choosing.

- Put recorded music as a programmed theme for your doorbell. You can de-program your door bell when Halloween is over, and re-program the door bell in time for Halloween next year.

- If you have pets, such as dogs or cats, buy an outfit for them in a pet store. You can use the outfit each succeeding year without incurring the cost of additional purchases.

- You can re-use Halloween flags and banners each year, or keep the Halloween spirit alive around your home all year long.

By re-using Halloween supplies as a cost-effective measure, you will make it possible to provide true Halloween spirit year after year, and not have to refinance your home.