Follow these easy safety tips to ensure that your Halloween celebrations are safe and fun:

• Make sure children’s costumes are flame retardant and provide adequate vision. If they’re carrying props, check that the edges are flexible enough to avoid injuries.
• Have an adult or responsible teen accompany children. If they’re going without you, ensure they’re traveling with a group and agree on a time for them to return home. Provide a watch for them to wear to keep track of the time.
• Fill kids up with dinner before they leave, which will make them less likely to snack on their candy before you have a chance to look it over.
• Give children a flashlight to carry, and ask them to only approach houses with lit porch lights.
• Consider having them bring along an ID, which includes their home address and telephone number.
• Apply reflective tape to children’s costumes and bags. You might also want to add glow-in-the dark makeup.
• Remind children to stay on sidewalks, walk facing traffic and never cross the street between parked cars.
• Be careful with the little ones when carving pumpkins! Small children should never handle knives, but can still be incorporated in the fun. Let them draw a face on the pumpkin to be carved by an adult, or let them scoop out the insides.
• Use caution while driving—stay alert and watch for children running into the street.
• If you plan to display pumpkins or candle in the area you hand out candy, set them far enough out of the way to avoid fire or injury.
• Explain to children the difference between tricks and vandalism. Throwing eggs at a house may seem like fun at the time, but they should understand the damage and cost such destruction can cause others.

The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks has compiled a list of Halloween events in Council District 3. Check out the list after the jump: