With Halloween just a few short days away, the streets will soon be filled with Superheroes, Princesses, Zombies, Ghosts, and more looking for treats. Halloween, however, isn’t just for kids or treats.
Teenage and, yes even adult, pranksters also fill the streets looking to deal out a few tricks. If you’d like to prank-proof your home this Halloween, and/or keep your property vandal-free all year long, follow these Halloween prank-proofing tips.
Keep Your House Lights On
This Halloween, keep your interior and exterior lights on all night long, whether you’re actually there or not to discourage pranksters from vandalizing your home. If it looks like you’re home, you – and your house, are less likely to be a target of tricks that have the potential to damage your property.
Install Motion-Sensor Lights
These systems turn on the lights as people walk around your property. This often discourages pranksters. If they don’t do the job, consider purchasing a few motion-activated sprinklers, which can be staked into the ground. These sprinklers will have invading pranksters running for cover in order to avoid getting drenched.
Nowhere to Hide
A security camera will allow you to hand out candy to the costumed kids while deterring pranksters. The market is flooded with quality night-vision cameras that will enable you to live stream security footage to your smartphone so that you can easily respond to toilet-paper wielding pranksters.
Safeguard Your Car
You may want to think about parking your car in a secure place Halloween night. Personal vehicles are twice as likely to be vandalized on October 31st than on an average day, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. What better way to safeguard your vehicle from pranksters than parking it in your home garage?
Bring in Your Jack O’ Lantern
After the costumed kids have gone, bring in your Jack O’ Lantern for the night, unless you want to spend the morning cleaning up smashed pumpkin. While you’re at it, you may also want to consider bringing in loose toys, lawn equipment and your mailbox. This way you’ll avoid having to clean up or replace these items.
Sit Outside During Trick-or-Treating
Instead of waiting inside for the doorbell to ring, get outside and greet trick-or-treaters and neighbors on the porch. It’s a good way to meet new people if you’re new to the neighborhood. We don’t recommend just leaving a bowl of candy out because teens often don’t follow the “please take one only” rule.
Review Your Insurance Policies
Additionally, you should review your home and automobile insurance coverage before kids come trick-or-treating, just in case. You should specifically look at your liability coverage, fire protection, and personal property coverage. If you have questions, or feel the need to up your limits, contact us at (480) 820-2297.
Happy Halloween!
