Top Holiday Safety Tips for a Secure and Happy Season

Upcoming Christmas kick off the holiday season. Unfortunately, they also kick off the most dangerous times for victims of home break-ins, shoplifting, car thefts, etc.

Don’t let your holidays be ruined by becoming the victim of a crime or a danger! You can take the below holiday safety tips to prevent all possible winter holiday crimes and dangers, and get the best deals on security products.

Holiday Travel Safety Tips

1. Plan Ahead

Before you travel, book transportation and accommodations in advance to avoid last-minute stress. Check weather forecasts, traffic updates, and local conditions at your destination, and allow extra time for potential delays.

2. Share Your Travel Plans

Always let a trusted friend or family member know your travel schedule, including departure and arrival times, stops, and accommodations. Regular check-ins provide peace of mind and a safety net in case of emergencies, ensuring someone knows your whereabouts throughout the trip.

3. Keep Essentials Accessible

Carry important documents, medications, cash, and valuables in a secure, easily accessible bag. Use digital copies of IDs and tickets as backups, and avoid keeping all valuables in one place.

4. Stay Alert and Mindful

Whether traveling by plane, train, bus, or car, remain aware of your surroundings and avoid distractions. Keep an eye on your belongings in crowded areas, follow local safety rules, and choose reputable transportation options.

5. Take Care of Your Health

Travel can be exhausting, so remember to stay hydrated, eat well, and rest when needed. Wash hands regularly and carry hand sanitizer, especially in public spaces. Keeping your energy and immunity up helps you enjoy your trip safely and avoid unnecessary health issues.

Holiday Shopping Safety Tips

Christmas is coming soon! You are definitely busy buying gifts for your beloveds in store or online. Thieves know this tradition and they will target you.

You can check the below winter holiday personal safety tips 2018/2019 when shopping in store or online.

1. Winter Holiday Shopping Safety Tips in Stores and Malls

By taking some winter holiday shopping safety tips, you can hold back those awful thieves when you buy gifts in stores or shopping malls.

Tip 1. Stay alert and be aware of the surroundings. Thieves might follow you and then seek a good chance to steal your valuables.

Tip 2. Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Using your credit card or debit card is safer and more convenient.

Tip 3. If possible, go shopping with your family or friends. Thieves tend to target women who go shopping alone.

Tip 4. Place all of your gifts and packages in your car or somewhere out of sight. Thieves will break into your car with the temptation of your gifts plain in sight.

If your valuables are stolen by thieves, you can report it to the shopping mall manager to ask for the security camera video footage to track the thieves. Thus you can get your valuables back at higher chances.

Bump: If you are a retailer or a shop owner, you need to take action to prevent shoplifting since holiday season, especially Christmas, is the peak time of shoplifting. You are NOT gonna miss the top 10 ways to prevent shoplifting.

2. Winter Holiday Season Safety Tips For Online Shopping

Over 9 million Americans have their identity stolen each year, and people reported fraud losses totaling more than $1.2 billion. For not becoming the victim of online fraud and identity theft during holiday, you should never miss the winter holiday online shopping safety tips.

Tip 1. Purchase on secure websites. Only shop on websites that have “https” URL. The “s” in URL means this website is secure and your data is encrypted properly.

Tip 2. Create strong passwords. Weak passwords only make it simple for hackers to break into your accounts. It is always advised to change your passwords regularly in order to keep your private information safe.

Tip 3. Don’t make transactions within public WiFi network. You cannot ensure the security of public WiFi network. Some may be infected with spyware that records each keystroke entered.

Tip 4. Choose credit cards over debit cards when making payment online. Your debit cards are linked to your personal account directly. Credit cards are not linked directly to your bank account, so any fraud will not drain your funds. Also, credit cards typically have a larger window (90 days as opposed to 30 days) to report fraud.

Holiday Driving Safety Tips

During the Christmas and New Year period, the average number of fatalities involving an alcohol-impaired driver rises 34%. For not being involved in a driving accidents, you should bear the below Christmas or winter driving safety tips in mind.

Tip 1. Never drink and drive. Drunk driving is illegal. You put your life and other people’s life in great risk with drunk driving.

Tip 2. Drive carefully in bad weather. In winter, the snow and smooth roads would undoubtedly increase the dangers of driving. If possible, avoid driving during heavy snow, ice or rain in winter season. Nothing is more important than your personal safety!

Tip 3. Don’t text or call whiling driving. Driving carelessly is one of the most common causes of accidents. When driving, make sure you are aware, and never text or call while driving! One lapse like that is all it takes to open yourself up a car accident.

Holiday Decorating Safety Tips

Decorating for the holidays can be fun, but it also comes with safety risks if proper precautions are not taken. From using ladders to handling electrical decorations, following basic safety tips can help prevent common injuries and ensure a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

• Use sturdy ladders on level ground and have someone hold the base while you decorate.
• Wear non-slip shoes and avoid overreaching or standing on unstable surfaces.
• Use gloves and safety glasses when handling sharp tools or decorations.
• Check lights for frayed wires or broken bulbs before plugging them in.
• Turn off and unplug lights before adjusting or replacing decorations.
• Secure cords and decorations to prevent trips and falls.
• Avoid decorating while tired or in poor lighting conditions.
• Follow manufacturer instructions for indoor and outdoor decorations.

Holiday Fire Safety Tips

The winter months, especially Christmas time, can be more fire hazardous. Winter holiday safety statistics show that electrical distribution or lighting equipment was involved in 35% of home Christmas tree fires.

On average, one of every 34 reported home fires that began with a Christmas tree resulted in a death. Good news is that all of the fire hazards can be avoided with some simple ways (some ways below are from NFPA winter holiday safety tips).

Tip 1. Learn some Christmas electrical safety tips to prevent Christmas tree fire.

• Make sure your Christmas tree is at least 3 feet away from any heating resources, including candles, fireplaces, etc.
• When lighting the tree, replace any string of lights with worn or broken cords or loose bulb connections.
• Never use candles to decorate your tree.
• Remember to turn off all Christmas lights before leaving home.

Tip 2. Don’t make the electrical circuits overloaded. Don’t plug too many items into an electric socket. Avoid stringing together more than 3 strands of lights.

Tip 3. Keep an eye on all of your cookers and keep decor away from cooking areas to avoid fire hazards.

Plus one winter Christmas holiday safety tip at work: if you are using heating equipment in your office, don’t put them too close to anything that might burn.

The above winter holiday safety tips are undoubtedly effective on protecting your home. By adding home security products can make your home more unbreakable.

Holiday Safety Tips for other Common Crimes

Winter holiday season, including the upcoming Christmas, Hanukkah, etc., is really a peak time for criminal activities. Luckily, you can keep yourself safe and sound in this winter holiday season with the effective safety tips below.

Get to know the top common crimes and dangers, and learn best safety tips for these crimes and dangers for safe winter holidays (in December, January and February).

Holiday Home Safety Tips for Break-Ins

Burglaries and home break-ins often heat up during winter (especially around Christmas time) for many reasons. Making your home hard to be kicked in is the best way to prevent those intruders.

While installing security cameras is one of the best and easiest ways to deter burglars and thieves, there are other useful winter (Christmas) holiday house safety tips for you and your family.

Effective Winter Holiday Home Safety Tips:

• Install solid-core doors for your front and back door.
• Go get a good deadbolt lock to prevent thieves kicking off your doors.
• Light up your property to indicate that your home is occupied.
• Get a barking dog to scare off intruders.
• Adopt a neighborhood watch program.
• Install viewers to see who and what are outside before opening the door.

Note: If you will go traveling during winter holidays (including, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Eid-al-Adha, Diwali, etc.), you can learn some winter holiday travel safety tips to keep your home secure in this post.

Holiday Safety Tips for Package Thieves

Now you may be busying ordering gifts online for the upcoming Christmas. Package “pirates” are also wandering around your house to take away your Christmas packages.

You can take the below top-rated tips to prevent package pirates:

• Have your packages delivered to your office or your neighbors if you are not at home that day.
• See if the post office or store where the product is being shipped from can hold the package for your later pickup.
• Install a security camera for your porch or any places where the postmen will leave your packages. You can check when the postmen will delivery your packages. Besides, you can see who took away your packages if they are lost.

3. Holiday Personal Safety Tips for Rape and Sexual Assault

Rape and sexual assault have increased around Christmas time. This is most likely due to the increase of parties and alcohol consumption during this time of year.

When you are enjoying big parties on Xmas or winter holidays, there are some winter holiday safety tips everyone should know.

Tip 1. Don’t go to parties alone. Go to Christmas parties with your friends or family. Having a partner to take care of you is always a good idea when joining parties.

Tip 2. Know your limit. Women who engage in heavy drinking have greater risks of becoming a victim of rape or sexual assault. Don’t drink too much at parties.

Tip 3. Mind your drinks. Don’t accept any strangers’ drinks at parties. Never leave your drink unattended. Someone with harmful intention could slip something into your drink in the blink of an eye.

4. Holiday Safety Tips for Domestic Violence

“Every Christmas is not Merry”.

Domestic violence shelters see spike during holidays. While holidays can be a happy time of a year, they can be also stressful. Alcohol and drugs only add to the problem and put more people in danger.

Useful tips:

If you are suffering domestic violence during your winter holidays now, take urgent measures NOW!

• Run away at once.
• Find a secret shelter.
• Call the police or hotline for help.

These simple ways are for urgency. For getting rid of domestic violence totally, you need to get detailed ways in this useful domestic violence safety plan. One more golden rule: silence can only make the problem worse. No silence, no domestic violence.

FAQs

What are 10 basic safety rules?

1. Stay aware of your surroundings.
2. Follow rules and instructions.
3. Keep emergency contacts handy.
4. Use protective gear when needed.
5. Avoid risky behaviors.
6. Maintain hygiene and cleanliness.
7. Be cautious with strangers.
8. Store hazardous items safely.
9. Learn basic first aid.
10. Be prepared for emergencies.

What is the most common injury on Christmas?

The most frequent Christmas injuries are slips, trips, and falls, often occurring while decorating, followed by cuts, strains, and sprains.

Conclusion

Nothing is more important than the safety of you, your family and your friends during the winter holidays. Please pass the winter holiday safety information above to your family and friends.

Wish all of you a safe and merry winter holiday!