Candles and Halloween

[Chimbos]

Out trick or treating with my kids this evening. I stay right next to them as they are quite little and on quite a few doorsteps there were real lit tealights inside pumpkins. 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. Perhaps I’m being paranoid but AIBU to nudge people towards either using LED tealights or keeping the pumpkins out of reach of children?

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'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 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 curious to know who shirley is?

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.

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".

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.

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

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.

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

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...

@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.

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.

@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!

@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?!

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

You only need to buy a couple of battery operated tea lights that can be used year upon year. Inexpensive things.

you really begrudge doing that to stop a child getting bunt?

Bloody hell.

@mdinbc

no just the hem of a fancy dress costume or fabric bag. These cheap import fancy dress fabrics go up in flame in seconds.

irrespective of a parent watching a child it can still cause burns (fatalities) why put the children at risk???

plus there are loads of children that go out without a parent or who are 'supervised' by older siblings.

As the homeowner, why would anyone put children at risk, especially when there's a cheap & easy way to avoid it??

@Gnomy

i presume it's carved? Then outfit can still meet flame.

why take the risk when battery operated tea lights/candles are just as good without the risk??

Dear Lord, they walk amongst us.

Dont put a lit pumpkin out if you don't want people knocking your door. If you want people knocking your door use a battery run candle instead of risking a child getting burnt.

just give it a go, being a decent person isn't actually that difficult!!

You don’t recall so it didn’t happen? Candles are notorious for causing fires and burns. It was a huge documented problem in Georgian and Victorian times, but presumably as you weren’t there, so that didn’t happen, either?

The angry or disbeliving posts are so unnecessary.

The OP made a gentle and polite request for people to consider doing something (a request that it seems has been made by fire fighters for many years now). If you want to carry on using real candles regardless then go right ahead, but you don't need to turn into an overdramatic "it's health and safety gone mad" bore - you're the fragile ones here.

@RegimentalSturgeon

not inside a carved pumpkin on the door step there's not. Have as many 'real' ones elsewhere as floats your boat.

i can assure you a child's clothing going up in in flames is pretty bloody joyless.

That adds so much to the thread