Candles and Halloween

Parents can tell their kids to stand back and the kids will obey. But if they are wearing big billows costumes, which a lot of Halloween costumes are like, it becomes more difficult.

I'm not saying that parents should stop using real candles per se (although if it elimited the chance of a child suffering third degree burns on your doorstep, why wouldn't you?) But I've seen so many pumpkins left on doorsteps right where the kids need to stand to be able to knock on the door. Either use LED candles or put the pumpkins to the side out of the way of trick or treaters and their costumes.

@Gnomy Well pram carrycots aren't illegal AFAIK. They're just no longer used in a dangerous way.

I said in an earlier post, the laws and regulations on outfits need to change, but in the meantime it's an odd hill to die on, defending the right to mix naked flames and young excited children in floaty fabrics.

So continuing that analogy, are you proposing candles be made illegal?

And in the meantime retailers and parents continue to buy clothing thats ‘dangerous’?

@ByMerryKoala My parents chucked the carrycot part of the pram with me in it on the back seat of the car for journeys. I'm still alive, so by your logic I shouldn't have bothered buying my Son a car seat?

There's an awful lot of finger pointing going on here at candles but it seems to me it's the clothing that's the main issue, and it's mostly those puffy plastic busy dresses that are the main risk, the onus should be on the parent to not put their child in that, when shell suits were melting people in the 80s they didn't ban indoor fireplaces, they told people to stop standing next to them in plastic, because they needed to be told apparently.

If you begrudge the free sweets, why have decorations in the garden advertising the free sweets in the first place though?

Sure, come and knock on my door for free sweets for your children then lecture me about fire safety in return 🙄

We use to have a turnip on a string with a real tea light in it. Not sure about the flame retardant qualities of your average black bin bag but somehow we managed to get through the night without being set alight.

Were these trick and treaters lifting the lids on the pumpkins?

This. Pumpkins with 2 tealights and a lid on it here. Can't see a significant fire risk here.

@CheeseWisely that's not good 🙁

Some retailers (apparently) increased safety standards to come in line with nightwear after her campaign. Which is still a long way from the standards for normal clothing.

The children actually DEMANDED sweets?? As in ‘GIVE ME SWEETS!’ This must have been very frightening for you. I’m sorry this happened to you 💐

I saw a few too and was surprised. Some used LED candles which is what I would do. Ignore the comment about sucking the fun out of everything.

@CheeseWisely I thought the laws had changed about dress up clothes because of what happened to Claudia's daughter (I'm sure she started a campaign about it??).
I am shocked that it hasn't changed.

I think if I were to decorate for Hallowe'en - I don't anymore, but I used to when my children were small - I would use real candles in my indoor pumpkins/lanterns which would line the window sills; I would quite happily use LED lights in outdoor displays. I already use LED lights for some of my Christmas/winter decor like lanterns in hallway, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

I'm with you OP. It gets really busy here and there isn't room for parents to walk up to all the doors.

It could easily happen and it would be horrific. If you read the Claudia W incident, the poor girl's tights melted into her skin. She was eight at the time so not even particularly little kid. It would happen in a split second and just not worth the risk.

Echoing the Claudia Winkleman story but neither my street or any of the houses I passed on my hour dog walk had pumpkins or flames, and we didn't have any trick or treaters.

I do realise that the chances are low but soooo many kids wear those super flammable dresses and it would just take a kid bending down near a pumpkin with a large mouth and a candle pushed next to it for the dress to go up in flames.

If the candle is inside the pumpkin, the child would have to sit next to it poking their clothing through its orifices for this to happen.

If the dress is so super-flammable, should the child be wearing it at all?

I put a small torch in the pumpkin.

Please advise where you're buying this appropriate clothing, because all the Halloween outfits at Asda and Sainsbury's, for example, at £15 or £16 each are marked as 'keep away from fire and flame' and tested to TOY flammability standards.

Genuinely, if you know somewhere that's selling fancy dress costumes that are made up to clothing standards please let me know so I can buy them when my DS is old enough.

@RedHelenB And that's all well and good, until it's not. Have you ever seen how flammable fabric burns? It melts, and drips, and sticks and continues to burn, and you can't just pat it out or roll it out because of the melting and dripping and sticking.

The bottom line is that the law should change so producers and retailers have to apply clothing fire standards to fancy dress outfits, but in the meantime I find it quite bizarre that the hill people will die on is their right to put real flames around flammable costumes. If you don't want to spend £1 on an LED candle then simply don't take part in Halloween at all, surely.

Why is the onus on households to buy plastic and use batteries unnecessarily and its not for parents to buy appropriate clothing?

I’m both btw.

This. I've always used real candles, no dc have ever come to any harm.

The vast majority of pumpkins we saw tonight had LED lights inside, any with tea lights were placed well away from doorways. But I think it's good to make kids aware to be careful around them just in case.

Totally agree with this. I think it's irresponsible of people to put a real flame in a pumpkin, knowing that young children are standing so close in costumes. Of course I supervised my DC to ensure they didn't get too close but it's an accident waiting to happen in my opinion.

😂😂😂

Just disguise a few pills as Smarties, much less effort…. 😂😂

(Obviously I’m joking. I wouldn’t waste my pills…)