16 Holiday Safety Tips for You and Yours this Season

If you ask me this is the very best time of the year; we’ve all got food we’re still working off from Thanksgiving and finishing up our Christmas shopping for our friends and family. What none of us need is unexpected trouble this holiday season.

Unfortunately, this time of the year is when Crime elevates and careless mistakes can be disastrous. Today I’ve put together a few simple tips and precautions that will hopefully save you and your family from any misfortune that can ruin your holidays.

Holiday Safety

1. Maintain your situational awareness when you’re moving to and from your vehicle or in crowded areas; keep your head on a swivel, scanning for any threats. Use the window glass around you to see behind you without making it obvious you’re looking at that person walking a little too closely behind you.
2. Park in a well-lit place in the parking lot, lock your doors and hide your gifts and valuables. Out of sight, out of mind. Don’t give thieves a reason to break into your vehicle.
3. You don’t leave your vehicle running while you dash into 7-11 do you? If so, STOP!
4. If you like to let everyone know how well-off you are with excessive bling, do yourself a favor and leave it at home. Why make yourself a target? Dress down.
5. Don’t carry a large amount of cash to pay for gifts; use credit/debit cards. Also be cautious when you take your wallet out to pay.
6. Have the contents of your wallet/purse inventoried in a safe location, complete with the phone numbers to call in the event your wallet/purse is stolen. You aren’t carrying your Social Security card around with you, right?
7. Don’t make it easy for pickpockets; keep your wallet in your front pocket or jacket pocket. Consider carrying a false Giveaway Wallet too! Ladies, keep your purse close to your body and avoid carrying a large one that can easily be ripped off your shoulder.
8. Teach your kids to go to store employees if you get separated from them while you’re shopping.
9. When you’re out shopping this holiday season, don’t update your Facebook status letting everyone know and leave some lights on or even the TV while you’re gone.
10. If you’re leaving town for the holidays; invest in automatic timers with battery backup, get your mail held and ask a neighbor to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Heck, ask your neighbor to even park in your driveway.
11. Inventory the expensive items in your house in case of theft, not that knowing the serial numbers is going to assure you’ll get your items back, but it will definitely help. It also makes insurance claims easier.
12. Make sure your smoke detectors have fresh batteries. A good way to remember to replace the batteries in your smoke detectors is to change them along with your clocks during Daylight Savings Time twice a year.
13. Have your Chimney checked by a professional each year before you start using it. Chimney fires can and do happen all the time, especially if a fire is left unattended. Another reason to have good batteries in your smoke detectors!
14. Put your Christmas lights on outdoor timers and don’t leave them on while you sleep. If a bad bulb causes a fire, you won’t know until it’s too late! Have you replaced those smoke detector batteries yet?
15. Don’t leave candles burning unattended. Fires started by candles happen all the time, but more so around the holidays.
16. Don’t drink and drive. There are plenty of other idiots on the road that do, don’t be one of them!

Add any Holiday Safety tips you can think of below in the comments and please share this list with your friends and family. I don’t want to hear about any ITS Readers having a horrible holiday season!

Stay safe out there and Happy Holidays!