*This holiday home safety blog post is sponsored by ACI. I have received compensation from the brand for creating it. All opinions are my own.*
The holidays are upon us and, for many, that means our homes will be filled with guests.
You’ll be in charge of menus, cleaning, gift giving and more as you try to ensure your guests have all of the comforts of home while they’re visiting yours. This includes keeping them safe.
Did you know that each year, US fire fighters respond to about 160 Christmas tree-related home fires? These fires can cause massive property damage and injuries!
The good thing is that the majority of these holiday-related issues are preventable as they’re results of inattention, product misuse, and other family dynamics that are unique to the season.
Here are some holiday safety tips to make sure you and all of your guests have a healthy, happy, and safe holiday season.
25 Holiday Home Safety Tips for Families
Holiday Home Safety In the Kitchen
Maintain good hand hygiene.
Wash your hands often, in warm soapy water, to ensure no bacteria is transmitted to your food.
Keep your surfaces clean.
Same goes for surfaces. Bacteria like to hide on them and wait for your food to come along.
Cook your food thoroughly.
Raw and undercooked food may cause you and those you serve it to become ill.
Refrigerate your food promptly.
I know people love to nibble after Thanksgiving or Christmas Day dinner, but if you want to ensure everyone stays healthy, be sure to wrap up all perishables and pop them in the fridge within two hours.
Don’t hoard the leftovers.
You want to kill off those leftovers within four days. If you have too much, send your guests home with some “to-go” plates.
Keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
That way, it will be handy in the event of a kitchen fire.
Holiday Home Safety In the Bathroom
Keep your water temperature at a sensible level.
Those with young children probably want to set it no higher than 120 degrees.
Use slip resistant rugs.
Especially if you plan to have grandparents and other older guests around for the holidays.
Store medications safely.
And be sure that they are out of reach of young children.
Lock up your cleaning products too.
Be sure your cleaning products are stored in a place where younger children can’t access them. If you know you’ll have babies and toddlers visiting during the holiday season, consider installing a few cabinet locks so you can keep these items out of their curious hands.
Holiday Home Safety In the Laundry Room
Put your packets up.
If you use laundry detergent packets, it’s very important that you keep these out of sight and reach of young children and pets. Young children are curious and accidents can happen quickly. While liquid laundry packets work well on keeping you clothing clean, fresh, and bright, they are highly concentrated and should be stored up high and out of reach and sight from young children. Store these products in their original containers with safety labels intact.
This safety message is also important for any families hosting older adults with dementia or another cognitive impairments, who might get confused around liquid laundry packets.
You can learn more about laundry packet safety here: Packets Up
Close your doors.
Make sure the door to your laundry room remains closed. The young people visiting you likely have little use for your laundry room. Inside, ensure the machine doors are tightly closed as well to prevent little people from crawling inside and getting stuck during a particularly competitive game of hide and seek.
Clear your lint traps.
Laundry room fires are most often caused by the lint build up in and around your machine.
Holiday Home Safety In the Bedroom
Anchor your dressers and other tall furniture to the wall.
This will prevent young children from tipping it over onto themselves.
Keep your windows latched—especially on second story and higher rooms.
Or install safety guards so they can’t open wide enough for a baby or toddler to climb or fall out.
Use blinds with safe or no cord pulls.
These can choke young children who get caught in them.
Use outlet covers.
These should be used in every room to make it difficult for children to stick fingers or other objects in them.
Holiday Décor Safety
Remember, the fresher the better.
Dry, dying Christmas trees burn more easily than those that are lively and fresh. And water, water, water that bad boy until you’re ready to haul it out to the curb.
Check your lights.
Throw away any light strings with frayed cords, cracked lamp holders, or loose connections.
Asleep or away means lights out.
Be sure you turn off your lights in and outside of the house when you leave or go to bed.
Fireplace Safety
Never leave a fire burning in your fireplace unattended.
Make your fire well before you plan to go to bed so you have time to enjoy it and allow it to burn out before bedtime, and never leave a fire burning in your fireplace when you leave home.
Have your chimney cleaned and inspected.
A professional chimney sweep and inspector should come out annually before you start burning fires for the season.
Use a safety screen.
This will prevent your child from suffering burns by touching the glass screens that an become quite hot.
Install smoke and carbon dioxide detectors.
Make sure you test them monthly and change their batteries once a year.
Open the flu before starting a fire.
Then you won’t risk your house filling up with smoke.
More about the PACKETS UP! campaign: PACKETS UP! Is your go-to place for laundry safety and proper liquid laundry packet usage. Proper storage and use of all cleaning products is a daily practice that can help prevent accidents in the home.
Knowledge is key to the prevention of injury and PACKETS UP®! is here to help you take simple steps to reduce the number of accidents with children and liquid laundry packets.
Proper storage of all cleaning products is a daily practice that can help prevent accidents in the home. ALWAYS keep laundry packets up and away from kids and NEVER let young children handle or hold them. Learn more about this initiative and ways you can keep your children and home safe here: PACKETS UP®!