Trick-or-Treat for Candy. Not Germs.

Don't let your kids' favorite night of the year turn into the flu! Here are some simple and easy precautions to take, ensuring that the scariest thing you'll experience this Halloween is that new thriller in theaters...not a nasty virus. 

1. Pass out the candy...don't let them reach inside the bowl. An estimated 41.1 million kids went trick or treating in 2015. Anyone who has kids or has been around kids know that they typically aren't the most sanitary. There's no telling where their hands have been or when the last time they washed them was. Instead of letting hundreds of kids you don't know stick their hands in your candy bowl, opt to drop the candy in their buckets yourself.
2. Use hand sanitizer. Whether you're at home passing out the candy, or out with your kids making the neighborhood rounds, keep a bottle on hand to use periodically. Make sure it's alcohol based and contains at least 60% alcohol. 
3. Go through the collected candy. Before your kids start taking inventory of all the good stuff they got this year, quickly go through it and make sure it's all intact. It's not uncommon for candy to have tears in the wrappers or become unwrapped altogether. This greatly increases the chances of contamination, and it's best to just throw those ones out.
4. Clean the masks! You never know how many people tried on that mask before you bought it. In a study done in 2013 on three different masks, hundreds of bacteria colonies were found all over each mask - but most notably around the mouth areas on each one. Take an antibacterial wipe or spray to the inside before sticking it on your little one's head.
5. Disinfect your smartphone. Halloween is arguably the best time to be taking and posting a ridiculous amount of pictures, which means your phone is being used a little more than normal. As the third hand you never wash...your phone deserves some cleaning, too. Our UV smartphone sanitizer will kill 99.99% of bacteria in just 10 minutes.

Have a happy and healthy Halloween this year!