Must-Know Holiday Safety Tips Every Family Needs

If you’re wondering how to safely and joyfully celebrate the holiday season, this post will tell you. These holiday safety tips cover everything from Thanksgiving safety tips to holiday shopping, travel, and fire safety tips to pandemic safety tips and everything in between.

With your favorite holidays just around the corner, you need to find a (possibly new) way to safely celebrate each one and still make it special for your kids. Many parents are just like you – wondering how to create a joyful holiday season while also following the government’s safety guidelines and maybe your own comfort level too.

With each day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas get closer. What can you do to safely make these holidays jolly – even during the pandemic?

These and many more questions will remain unanswered until the holiday season finally arrives. The goal is to keep your children engaged and entertained while also hopefully enjoying the season yourself.

That’s why we’re sharing these holiday safety tips to help you organize safe and merry celebrations for you and your family this year.

General Holiday Safety Tips

There’s no way around it. This year is different from any year in most people’s memory. Use these general safety tips for a safe and enjoyable holiday season this year.

Celebrate at a Distance to Stay Safe and Keep Other Safe

A lot of parents are in the same situation as you are. You want what’s best for your family without ruining the holiday fun. And 2020 has been a hard year, right?

So many people are getting sick of living in our current circumstances, yet nothing has changed (yet). As we head into the flu season, it’s more important than ever to stay at least 6 feet away from people you don’t live with.

How can you do that?

But first…make planning your holidays easy and stress-free this year!

Safely Celebrate Halloween

Instead of going door to door with your children, organize a safe Halloween trick or treat outside. Ask your neighbors to leave the candy in their front yards so your and other children can safely gather them.

Thanksgiving Safety Tips (and Christmas too)

Here are some basic tips and ideas to help you celebrate holidays that typically involve large get-togethers:

Use Zoom to enjoy a virtual feast together
Keep gatherings on the small side – say, under 8 people
Arrange your seating to keep people further apart
Consider moving your Thanksgiving gathering outside if the weather in your area permits
Remember to wear a mask when you’re indoors and not eating

Start a New Tradition

Kids love family traditions. Even though you probably won’t have a chance to take them to sit in Santa’s lap, try to start a new tradition or renew the old ones. Include every family member in these to feel the holiday magic.

Here are some examples for Halloween

Instead of going costume shopping, consider making costumes with your children
Watch a Halloween movie (scary or not!)
Have a blast making some of these fun Halloween crafts
Decorate pumpkins together

Here are Some Examples for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Create a new board game by making your own. Or if you would prefer not to DIY, buy one of these board games. Create a board game with a holiday theme and have some fun with your family.
Introduce and have fun with an Elf on the Shelf
Enjoy a game night with family card games
Complete a winter bucket list as a family
Make Christmas cookies like these Gingerbread Whoopie Pies

Organize an Online Party for Your Kids

Parents all over the world are in the same position as you, so you aren’t alone. And this year has been really hard for kids and socializing. These holiday safety tips will help you all feel a little less alone – especially this one.

Thankfully, we live in a modern world where technology can help us fulfill our desires and create fun for our kids. Organize an online party for your kids!

Side note – can you imagine how much worse this year would have been without the advances in technology that we have now 🙂

Reach out to the parents of your kids’ friends and organize an online party together. Use some of the most popular applications for video chats and calls to create the ability for your kids to hang out with their friends.

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

Here are some Thanksgiving food safety tips you can use to stay safe while cooking your Thanksgiving feast.

Stay in the kitchen to monitor the food while cooking on the stove top.
Prevent kids from getting burned by keeping them at least 3 feet away from the hot stove, oven, boiling water, or hot dishes.
Stay home and check on your turkey often while it cooks to reduce fire risk.
Turn pot handles so small kids can’t reach up and pull on them.
Make sure that knives and other sharp utensils are out of children’s reach.
Ensure that all electrical cords are out of children’s reach
Own a fire extinguisher and know where to grab it quickly just in case of a grease fire.
Test your smoke alarms to make they’re working properly.

Holiday Shopping Safety Tips

Holiday safety tips include shopping safety tips too since people are often rushing around to buy gifts, decorate their homes, or travel. The holidays are a prime season for people being stolen from.

Keep valuables, purses, wallets, and shopping bags close to you. Make sure purses and bags are closed. Keep the more expensive items closest to your body.
Avoid carrying large amounts of cash.
Place all valuables in your trunk before you go into the store.
Shop online, but buy from reputable online stores. Make sure the page is secure and encrypted and keep your anti-phishing, anti-virus software current and up to date.

You can find a wide variety of kids toys and much more online – save time and get your shopping done too!

Holiday Travel Safety Tips

Before you travel to visit friends and family this holiday season, there are a few holiday travel safety tips you can follow to ensure you have a safe trip.

Secure your home – make sure all doors and windows are locked, use timers on your lights, and do not post on social media that you will be out of town.
Inspect your car – If you’re traveling by car, check the tires, wipers, fluids, etc. to help prevent unexpected problems or breakdowns.
Allow extra time – airports and roads can be jam-packed. Allow time to account for delays.
Sanitize – with travel comes the risk of exposure to germs. Whether or not you’ve ever been concerned about it in the past, this year may be different. Bring hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes with you and use them frequently.

Holiday Fire Safety Tips

Here are some holiday safety tips as they pertain to fire safety. Each year thousands of people go to the hospital for injuries related to burns from fires. Use these holiday fire safety tips to prevent burns.

Decorate the tree only with non-combustible or flame-resistant materials.
Keep your Christmas tree away from heat sources.
December is the peak time of year for home candle fires, a third of which start in the bedroom.
Avoid using ceramic heaters.

dad sitting with girl as she's opening holiday gifts

Holiday Safety Tips Final Thoughts

Organizing a fun but a safe holiday isn’t as hard as it might seem at first. All you need is a little help from these holiday safety tips – and some creativity.

You can always find more interesting ideas and get inspired to create the best holiday for your children. Make the best out of this season and create an unforgettable holiday your kids will remember for a lifetime.

Jasmine Anderson is a Sydney based lifestyle blogger and a toddler mom, with a Fine Arts Bachelor’s degree. Expressing herself through different mediums is what keeps her spirit bright. She loves to spend quality time with her family, go thrifting, and spend just a little bit too much time on the internet. Find her on Twitter.

2 Comments

Access Doors and Panels says:

December 17, 2020 at 9:27 am

Keep up the great work! Thank you so much for sharing great posts.

Cyndi Buchanan says:

November 13, 2020 at 1:53 pm

We are staying home for the holidays and doing video calls with family members. Now is not the time for big get togethers.

Must-Know Holiday Safety Tips Every Family Needs

General Holiday Safety Tips