Need to Know: Staying Safe at Christmas Time

While Christmas is one of the happiest holidays for many during the year, it is also a dangerous time of year. There are safety concerns with many of the different aspects of Christmas. The following are some of the Christmas safety tips to help you have a happy holiday.

Tree safety tips:
Tip one: No live flames. If you decide you want candles on the tree in your home, use the fake ones that have electric flames, not real ones. A fire around Christmas time is not only seriously dangerous, but also seriously inconvenient.

Tip two: Make sure that your tree is perfectly stable. If your tree is wobbly at all, it poses a safety risk. This is especially true if you have small children. A child could pull a tree down on themselves and injure themselves, which is not going to be very fun during the holidays.

Tip three: Turn your tree lights off when you are not in the room with the tree. This is especially important when you have a live tree, as it has the potential to go up in flames if he needles get too dried out.

Shopping safety tips:

Tip one: When taking children out shopping with you for the holidays, make sure you have a stroller or hold their hand the whole time. Shopping stores, malls, etc. have a lot of things that can distract a child, and they may wander off. Never let them out of your sight or even your hands, as hiding in a clothing rack, or walking off to find Santa can become a nightmare in a crowded department store.

This is your Christmas safety checklist.

Tip two: Be careful in parking lots on store entrances. Often around Christmas there is snow, and this can mean icy walk ways, cars losing control in parking lots, and wet floors in the malls and stores. Be careful as you walk, and stay alert to any dangers.

Tip three: Don’t do your shopping with cash. During the holiday season, pick pocketing is not unheard of. So, take cards, and keep a paper at home with the contact information and card number of everything in your wallet written down so that if your wallet is lost or stolen you can cancel all of your cards without hassle. Never holiday shop with cash, as if it is lost or stolen it is impossible to recover.

Party safety tips:

Tip one: Only attend parties where you know the guests. The holidays can bring out the best and the worst in people, and date rape drugs, child abductions, theft, and the like are not uncommon at a holiday party. So, don’t set your purse down, or let your children wander around if you do not know the other guests.

Tip two: Make sure you have a cab called in advance, or a designated driver if you intend to drink at the party. Even if you only drink a little, impaired reaction time can mean fatalities on icy roads.

Tip three: Beware of food poisoning. If the party is a long one, ensure that you only eat foods that have been properly refrigerated, avoid shell fish, etc.