Below are some helpful hints on having a smooth Halloween with a three-year-old that I learned from our first night out with him.

Have Costume Ready Weeks Before. My son had a hard time deciding on which costume to buy. One week it was Red Power Ranger, the next Black Panther and then Spiderman. I decided to pre-empt his indecisiveness by going to Target and buying a Spidey costume three weeks before Halloween. I thought that no matter he decided that he would have one ready for that day. In the past for ourselves we’ve waited to late on costume decisions for Halloween parties and there was nothing left. I was not going to let this happen to him and thought he would be happy with whatever I had bought and he was happy with Spiderman.

Pick a Kid-Friendly Neighborhood – Possibly a cul-de-sac. We checked in with friends’ families to see where they were going and if some of them were having an open house. Our neighborhood has a cul-de-sac on it in which lots of families live on and not many vehicles driving down. We headed there and found plenty of families giving out Halloween candy and parents with their kids that we knew.

When to Go. I remember not going until after dark when I was a kid. My husband reminded me that daylight savings time was earlier then. So we settled on 5:30 p.m. at dusk. He was correct. Everyone was already out and about.

Candy Eating: This is the hard one. We let him have a few as we walked, the small pieces and saving the bigger ones for later. I was pretty flexible on the candy issue since we don’t normally let him eat candy that much and it is Halloween!

Dinner Time: We decided to eat after Halloween and let him pick. Luckily we decided as a family on Panera Bread. This was a good idea since it was not that busy and not really a dinner place.

Traffic: What for kids everywhere. Try to pick a neighborhood with sidewalk if possible, one with little traffic to keep everyone safe. Kids were even on a busy road and not on a sidewalk, so keep your eyes peeled for pedestrians. The roads were also clogged since everyone is about out. My best advice is be very aware of your surroundings at all time.