Everyone talks about safety each Halloween it’s now become a cliche topic. We’ve also heard the horror stories, or old-wives-tails, of how kids have been hurt or maimed while trick-or-treating. Well, I’m here to put the rumors, myths, and false stories to rest and provide some helpful insight on how to keep your little one safe this halloween.

For a moment, clear your mind of all the bad things you’ve ever heard, really, it’s not that scary. The best plan of action every halloween is to have a watchful eye on your kid, every interaction, and carry a flashlight. I mean really, it’s not more complicated than that.

I don’t mean to make it sound too simple, but really, all you need to watch out for is your own lack of attention. Your kid will have a great time doing door-to-door and being safe, as long as you keep two-eyes on your little one.

It might seem like an impossible task to find the right costume for your little one.  Whether it’s your first Halloween for your daughter or son, or their 10th Halloween, there are so many choices it’s easy to feel like you might not be making the right choice. It’s always been easy for my wife any myself since we’ve been making costumes for the last 15 years, but we know that finding the right costume can be a time consuming process.

The first bit of advice is to go with a custom costume… always! It’s not that your little one will be the 10 spiderman, or 107th wonder woman at their school. No, in fact, that’s actually not such a bad thing. Going custom will mean that your little one will be the BEST Spiderman or BEST wonder woman.

And if showing off it not your thing, when selecting a costume you should have something that will be special, something that your kid can wear again-and-again. Most store bought costumes, while there are many great choices like Spirit or Halloween Express, are only meant for 1-Day wear. And they will usually rip or tear within the course of 1 day of activity. So if you’re planning on going to a 1-or-a-few Halloween parties with your little one, then you should avoid a store bought costume at all cost.

Lastly, the best reason from my experience, now that my daughter is 5 years old is that you want something that will be memorable. Something unique that you can always look back on with fond memories. Halloween only comes once a year and when there are so many choices of costumes, you should select the one that means something to you.

Choosing the right neighborhood to walk this halloween might be on your mind if you might have been out of the halloween circuit for a while like myself. You might want to consider a few things, like, 1) Are you looking to score big on volumes of candy, or candy-quality? 2) Do you want a busy neighborhood with lots of kids, or do you want your kid to be the star of the show at each house? 3) Do you want to walk short distance? The answers might depend on the age of your child, what kind of experience you’re looking for. You may be surprised that some of the neighborhoods might not be the best, and other are better.

This guide will help you determine the most optimal experience for your Trick-or-Treat plan this coming Halloween.