Tradition adds a flashlight to your kid’s trick-or-treating bag, but you can use your smartphone, too.

As the annual night of trick-or-treating approaches, reminders about a Halloween safety light are popping up everywhere. Police and fire departments across the United States are reminding parents and children alike of the importance of visibility.

Many parents work hard to make sure their kids are visible but forget all about themselves.

As trick-or-treaters prepare to head out, parents are reminded to include visibility as a factor. This means that face paint should be used instead of masks which greatly reduce a child’s ability to see. It also means that reflector tape should be used where possible to help the costume to pick up light and make the child more visible. Parents also often drop a Halloween safety light – typically a flashlight – dropped into the trick-or-treating bag. This helps the child to be seen by drivers and other pedestrians alike.

However, all too many parents are not using a Halloween safety light to help make themselves visible.

To make sure you’re keeping yourself and your children safe this year, make sure you don’t forget the 5 essential things you shouldn’t leave home without on Halloween:

1. Duct tape – this may sound like a strange option but costumes get stepped on and caught on decorations.  This can easily tear them.  A piece of duct tape can often be enough to hold it together for the rest of the evening.  This also helps for broken handles on trick-or-treating bags and pail.
2. A large tote bag – when your child is carrying a store brought trick-or-treating pail or pumpkin, it can fill up fast.  Bring a larger tote bag with you so your kid can empty the pail into it when it gets full.
3. A smartphone -Parents are being reminded that their kids aren’t the only ones who need to see and be seen on Halloween. Fortunately, even if your main small flashlight is already being used in your child’s trick-or-treating bag, you still have an obvious option: your smartphone. At the same time, it will make sure you don’t get lost in the dark among winding streets through the GPS function, and it gives you the ability to call for assistance if needed.
4. A flashlight app – Many smartphones come with a flashlight app pre-installed. That said, if not pre-installed, there are dozens of free options available at the official app stores. These use your device screen to light your way even more brightly than many flashlights.
5. An external battery charger – The main challenge presented by flashlight apps is that they can burn through the battery power more rapidly than most of the other typical apps and smartphone functions. For that reason, you might want to make sure you keep a slim backup battery pack with you so you can simply plug your phone into it while you’re on the go.

With this handy portable phone charger gadget, you will make sure that you have more than enough battery power for the entire evening no matter how long your little ghosts and goblins want to continue haunting and scaring. In this way, your Halloween safety light will keep you and your kids safe. You’ll be visible to drivers and will be able to spot tripping hazards before they can lead to a fall. Happy Halloween!