Ditch The Tricks, Keep The Treats: 10 Ways To Keep Your Home Secure This Halloween

Halloween can be plenty of fun, but it also comes with some spooky home security worries. The sun sets earlier, the night adds a lot of extra people milling around, and doors are often wide open. Not to be a buzzkill, but it even gives people an excuse to conceal their identity without anyone even questioning it. Sure, you don’t want to be that grouch who locks the door, closes the curtains, and hides away from trick or treaters. But you do want to keep your home safe. Here’s how.

1. Light Your Property Well

A dark house with only a few flickering lanterns outside for lighting might scream Halloween, but it also lets possible intruders slip onto your property unnoticed. Keep your driveway and doorways well lit and have lights connected to motion sensors if possible. You should leave some lights on if you’re taking the kids trick or treating or going to a party, and you could even automate your home to light it efficiently.

2. Only Have One Point of Entry Open

During the happy chaos of Halloween, you might have the front door open to answer trick or treaters and the back door open while the kids light jack-o’-lanterns in the yard. But to keep your home as safe as possible, it’s best to only have one point of entry open at any given time. That way, you can monitor your home more easily and check that no unwanted visitors are trying to get in.

3. Take Photos of Your Home

Intruders are not the only security risk on Halloween. Some people get carried away with the “trick” side of things and might end up damaging your property. Good security will reduce the chances of that happening. You should take photos or a video of the outside of your home so that there’s before-and-after evidence of any damage that occurs as a result of vandalism.

4. Make Full Use of Your Home Security Gear

Before festivities begin, make sure that all of your home security gear is fired up and ready to go. Security cameras can record any incidents of vandalism disguised as “tricks” and door and window sensors should be on for any entryway that’s not being used. Motion sensors placed at the front would be working overtime as little skeleton and zombie legs rush past them, but if nobody is out back then your sensors should be on as normal.

5. Check Your App

If you’re out and about helping with trick or treating, your smart home security system lets you monitor your home from wherever you are. With abode, you can see the status of alarms, lights, sensors, and locks. You can even control things remotely, such as arming the system or putting lights on you accidentally left off. (If you haven’t invested in smart home security yet, you could always rely on a really scary Jack-O’-Lantern to keep your home safe…).

6. Be a Spoilsport if You Need to Be

Even if you’re throwing yourself into the fun of Halloween, there’s no harm in keeping an eye out around the neighborhood for anything suspicious. If you see someone who looks like they’re trying to get into a neighbor’s garage, don’t think twice about raising the alarm or questioning their behavior. Even if it turns out it was just a masked 10-year-old who dropped their candy near the garage, you’ll have done the right thing.

7. Make it Look Like You’re Home

Unless you’re confident that your home will be safe, it’s best not to leave out a dish of candy for trick or treaters. Leaving candy out might help to avoid kids’ disappointment when nobody answers the door, but it’s also a clear signal to potential intruders that you’re not home. Leaving a light or two on also helps to make it look like your home is occupied.

8. Secure Your Car and Garage

Halloween is not a great time to have your car parked in your driveway or on the street. With a lot of excited people around (possibly wearing cumbersome costumes), there’s a chance that it could get scratched by accident, or even damaged deliberately. If you can, get it locked up in the garage and make sure your garage is secure. Door and window sensors can be fitted to your garage and become part of your security system.

9. Pick a Time to Stop Answering the Door

Even if you can’t stand the thought of a little kid from the block standing there with a sad face under their mask, there comes a time to stop handing out candy and lock up for the night. Anyone out trick or treating after 9 or 10 p.m. is probably old enough to deal with the let down of not getting any candy.

10. Throw a Safe Party

If you’re throwing a Halloween party, people will be entering your home in costumes rather than simply standing on the doorstep. To keep your house safe, make sure all of your home security gear is working as normal. Don’t let cameras or yard signs be covered by decorations, and turn on sensors and alarms for any doors or windows that don’t need to be open. You can also check the identity of people in costumes by letting your guests know about a Halloween-themed password in advance.

If you want to secure your home for Halloween and every other day of the year, you can rely on abode’s smart home security system. Get started today!