this is the baby’s first halloween, and i have a big kid who has done plenty of them.
the internet’s version of a baby’s first halloween is the costume. a pumpkin, a peapod, a very small lobster. i am not against any of it. the photos are the point and i understand that.
but the american academy of pediatrics’ halloween safety page spends most of its words somewhere else, and in a house with a baby and an older kid in it, the somewhere else is the actual list.
the costume, which is the easy part
the aap’s costume rules are short. check that the costume fits, and that it is short enough not to trip on or catch on things. look for “flame resistant” on the label, and check wigs and accessories too, not just the main piece. plan for bright and reflective. hats should not slide over the eyes or block vision, and non-toxic makeup tested on a small patch of skin first is safer than a mask.
for a baby, add the rules that are the same on every other day of the year: nothing over the face, nothing tied around the neck, and nothing with small parts that can come off. the aap’s own candy section names stickers and small toys as choking hazards, and a pom-pom or a felt eye off a costume is the same size.
what goes under it
late october in western new york is not costume weather. the costume is a layer, and it goes over something warm, not instead of it.
before the links, the honest part: none of the baby products in this post are ones i am claiming as my own. they are the category each job needs, with the ratings behind them, and the coat is here on its crash test.
a microfleece blanket sleeper is the easy base. footed, one piece, and also exactly what they should be wearing when they fall asleep in the stroller on the way home. a snug cotton cap under the costume hood beats a floppy hood that slides down over their eyes, which is the aap’s hat rule applied to somebody who cannot push it back up. the caps are split into separate listings by size rather than one page with a dropdown, so check which one you are on.
if there is also a toddler walking the route, a microfleece jacket that fits under the costume is the thing that keeps the night from ending at the second house.
the costume comes off before the car seat
if you are driving to trick-or-treat, or to a party, or to grandma’s, the puffy costume does not go under the harness. it is the same rule as the winter coat, for the same reason: anything with loft compresses in a crash and leaves the straps loose on a child who felt snug when you buckled them. a stuffed pumpkin is a coat with a stem on it.
buckle them in the thin layer, then put the warmth on top. a fleece blanket laid over the buckled harness, or an over-the-top car seat cover that goes over the seat and never behind or under the baby. the only coat i would link for a car seat is one that was crash-tested for it, and that test is the entire reason it is here. the listing links one color, so pick yours.
the costume comes off before sleep
they will fall asleep. in the stroller, in the carrier, on somebody’s shoulder on somebody’s porch. when you get home, the costume comes off, hood and headpiece and anything stuffed or loose, and they go down the way they always go down: on their back, in an empty crib or bassinet, in a sleep sack instead of a blanket.
that is why a blanket is not how you keep a baby warm, and halloween does not change it.
the real list is the big kid’s candy
this is the section the aap actually spends its words on. babies and toddlers should not have hard candy, caramel apples, popcorn, gum, small candies like jellybeans, gummy candy, pumpkin seeds, or anything with whole nuts.
and then the line that is the actual point in a house with a baby in it: “candy wrappers, stickers, small toys or temporary tattoos can be a choking hazard.”
that is not a list of things anybody is going to hand your baby. it is a list of things that will be on your floor on november first, because the universal halloween ritual is a big kid dumping a pillowcase onto the living room rug to sort it.
so the sorting happens on a table. the wrappers go straight into a bag as they come off. and the floor gets looked at, properly, at baby height, before anybody small is put down on it. that is free, and it is most of this post.
the house
the aap’s list for the house is short and it is all free.
use a battery-operated flameless candle, a flashlight or a glow stick instead of a real candle in the pumpkin. if you do use a candle, a votive is safest, and a candlelit pumpkin does not go on the porch or on any path where visitors pass close by. (if a candle has ever left a black mark on your ceiling, that one has its own post.)
clear the tripping hazards off the porch and the yard. hoses, toys, bikes.
and restrain the pets, so they do not jump on or bite a trick-or-treater. a dog that is lovely with your baby can still be a very different dog after the doorbell has rung a lot.
i would add one for a house with a newborn in it, and it is about you, not the baby. every ring is a door opening onto a cold porch. the baby does not need to be the one standing in it. somebody else can answer the door.
the honest version
a baby’s first halloween is a costume over a warm sleeper, a car seat with nothing puffy under the straps, a crib with nothing in it, and a floor somebody checked after the candy was sorted.
the costume is the photo. the rest of the list is the night.
if your first holiday trip with a newborn is coming up too, the post about staying at grandma’s is the other half of this one.
some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means i may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. i am a Walmart Creator partner. none of the linked products are ones i am claiming as my own: each is the category the job needs with the ratings behind it, and the coat is linked on its crash test. i said so in the post before the first link. #ad
the free printables all live in one place. the Postpartum Recovery Kit is the one for this corner of the blog, and it is in the resource library with the rest.
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