Candles and Halloween

Oh fgs. The OP isn’t talking about indoors. They’re talking about little kids in costumes being close to flames.

@HolyMilkBoobiesBatman

if you're buying and/or carving pumpkins to put out the front on Halloween, surely it's not beyond ones wit to buy some battery operated candles/tea lights?!

@TwoNinetyNine

Yeah, such fun watching fancy dress go up in flames & children getting burnt.

How dare fun sponges try to stop that happening. She's only requesting people think about using battery tea lights for pumpkins down low at the door, not for people to use candles in their own homes or even outside where children won't be standing!

YANBU and it’s not about sucking the joy out of everything as one poster suggested. I love Halloween. I haven’t used candles in years as they’re bloody annoying if it’s windy and also I read about Claudia Winkleman’s daughter and wanted to prevent that. I use artificial tealights and won’t go back to real.

@Appalonia unfortunately many children did get badly burnt. Nightdresses were frequent fire hazards.
I might be miss-remembering but I'm sure in the 80s there were public safety adverts on TV about nighties and flames.

I wonder how posters like you would have coped in the 70s when we had powercuts and HAD to use wax candles for light? I don't recall any takes of kids going up in flames then...

@VikingLady I thought there had been a campaign to close that loophole (after what happened to Claudia Winkleman poor daughter).

We stopped using real candles years ago. It's blatantly obvious that the wind blowing flimsy plastic capes and long dresses over the pumpkins is a huge hazard. For the people who are still arguing the case of real ones I hope they at least put them out of reach or at the back of the house. No one needs sweets that badly.

Costumes are a legal loophole. They don't have to be classed as clothes.

The selfish people on here are unbelievable. Some people didn't realise that fancy dress outfits aren't required to meet the fire safety standards of clothing and hadn't considered the risk that candles presented - fine, you know now. Those who have been told and choose to ignore the warning and worse - insist the patent would be to blame - what the fuck is wrong with you?

You're inviting children onto your property knowing there is a risk, having been told of a horrendous incident - yet it's the parent, not you who is responsible? The parent who has no way of knowing that you've used real candles? The parent who has no idea which way the wind might catch the child's cloak? The parent, like my friend who's disabled child has mobility problems, whose movements are erratic, whose life has been unimaginably stressful, who just wants her child to join in like all the other kids. But no, some mumsnetters aren't going to give into snowflakes and their fake candles. If my friend wants to take her child trick or treating she can bloody well take the consequences. She was a nervous wreck tonight with every flickering tea light. But you folks carry on fighting the good fight.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entry/claudia-winkleman-daughter-fire-halloween-costume-watchdog_n_7280734/

Jorge Leon-Vallapalos, who treated Matilda at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, said there was "a mini epidemic" of paediatric burn injuries "in certain periods of the year".

I used tea lights as I misplaced my led ones.
I did make sure the pumpkins were in the middle of the lawn which is 2m from the path to the door.

I’m curious to know who shirley is?

I also think it depends where you live. We are in a very high density area with narrow terraced houses with v narrow front garden paths and lots of groups of children jostling past each other. I can see how a pumpkin or candle holder could get knocked over quite easily. Some kids aren’t that well supervised and do push and get over excited. That’s down to the parents, but I still prefer to be on the safe side. I just got a big job lot of the LED ones and put about three in each pumpkin!

I'm not buying special lights just for trick or treaters and my wax melt burner would be a bit shit with an LED candle underneath it 😂

I suppose we all need to be different or the world would be boring, but no, I've never hovered over a pumpkin in fear of my child combusting, not even after Claudia Winkleman. I'm pretty level headed in my approach and don't think it's a very common nor likely risk and don't give it a lot of headspace. Although to make you feel better op we do actually have LED ones this year as I bought a job lot for some Lego, but I suspect they're not terribly good for the environment so someone will be unhappy.

I don't get why there OP is getting so much resistance.
it is such a little change to buy some LED tealights or bulbs and they still give the perfect pumpkin glow but keep children safe.
lots of people in our area had clearly made the switch but I was very cautious and made the kids stop and check for real candles before approaching each house.
as OP has said, even with all the reminders in the world, kids do end up bustling and jostling in excitement and I can see how quickly and easily an accident like that with Claudia's poor daughter can happen.

Please stop using that misogynistic term which is insulting to women.
We don't need misogyny on a women’s forum thank you.

Surely you thought about this when you decided what costume to get for kids and where to take them?

Halloween pumpkins have always had candles in them. They aren’t some new fangled thing that have only just appeared. This is what trick or treating at Halloween is. Real flames are part of the magic for me.

If you’re going knocking on people’s doors asking for sweets you should be making sure you and your kids are up to the situation, not demanding the people you’re approaching adapt to you.

I had this thought as I was about to put a pumpkin on our doorstep so put it on a raised garden box type thing instead. Unlikely but you’d never forgive yourself if something happened.

Inside the pumpkin isn't a danger to anyone. We put the pumpkin on the pillar at shoulder height too. LEDs ones are plastic, no good for the environment and expensive. Take care of your child instead

It's Diwali today as well as Halloween. My mother put out diyas ( oil lamps). The children trick or treating were very close to them. Had to tell them to watch out. Was worried their clothes would catch fire.

Indeed...

Clearly trick or treating looks a bit different in different places.

Houses my child called at today often had multiple pumpkins lining the narrow front path and doorstep, and multiple children going up to the door at once and (politely) pushing to get past each other both coming and going.

In that situation it is very likely a child’s clothes will go close to a lit pumpkin. The only way to avoid this is to ensure your child skips any houses with pumpkins close to the door or path (but this is most of the houses ) and/ or only goes to knock when there are no other kids there (but this is never!)

If you’re trick or treating in places with bigger front gardens with pumpkins away from the front path, or not many kids calling at once, I can see this all sounds over cautious but in my scenario it’s a very real risk. and I wouldn’t actually have thought of it till tonight