Dressing up for Halloween and Bonfire Night is a key part of the fun and spectacle for lots of families. But wherever there are naked flames and fireworks, you need to take extra care to keep the whole family safe
It's why we go above and beyond the legal safety requirements for all our dress up costumes and want to share practical advice to make sure you and your loved ones are as safe as possible when dressing up.
There’s a lot everyone can do to help reduce the risk of an accident:
- Make sure you check costumes for the British Standards CE mark and flammability testing results before you buy them.
- Avoid naked flames – these LED lights are a great safe alternative for pumpkins or for creating a spooky atmosphere if you’re having a Halloween party
- Ensure there’s always a grown-up keeping an eye on the children
- If you’re taking little ones trick or treating, be careful of neighbours’ decorations and any candle-lit pumpkins on the ground.
All our dressing up costumes have the CE mark to show they’ve been tested to British Standards and look out for labels on our children's dress up outfits that show they’ve also undergone additional testing for flammability.
Andrea Leigh, compliance and technical manager for dress up at George, says all our children’s dress up garments not only meet the legal requirements but go above and beyond by meeting additional flammability testing including the BRC Code of Practice and the Nightwear test (BS5722).
She said: " I’m in this role to ensure that we do all we can to ensure children and parents can enjoy themselves at this wonderful time of the year and that we’re doing all we can to help our customers stay safe when they’re dressing up.
"We test our costumes to get a realistic view of real-life situations. Halloween has been a media focus for the past few years, particularly in regard to the flammability of children’s dress up garments, so I work closely with our product safety team to ensure all of our children’s dress up ranges are designed with safety in mind.
"I’m glad to say we didn’t have any incidents with flammability last year and our dressing up costumes performed very well in any flammability burn tests carried out by the media."
We've expanded our Halloween dress up range, which is now available in stores and online, to include more baby toddler options, including this pumpkin tutu set and this vampire all-in-one with a cape. The collection also includes holographic fancy dress costumes, like this spider monster, light-up costumes like this witch outfit, and glow in the dark sets like this skeleton.
Take a look at the whole range – for adults, children, toddlers and babies – here.
