Halloween is fast approaching, and as parents are out buying, or making, their child's costumes, city officials are reminding them to also make plans for a night of safe trick or treating.

"The most important thing that parents need to pay attention to is that (children) are not wearing dark clothes, and if they do, they need to be with a parent at all time and extremely careful when crossing the street," Nacogdoches Fire Department Chief Keith Kiplinger said. "It's easy for a child to get all excited for candy, and in the excited delirium, they bound across the street and get hit by a car. It's happened here before, so we highly recommend brightly colored clothing and something reflective on the child."

Parents are also being cautioned against any candy that may look suspicious upon inspection.

"I think parents need to examine all their children's candy before they eat any of it; that's absolutely essential. If a piece of candy looks like it's been opened or tampered with in any way, we recommend that they just discard that candy," Kiplinger said.

Most costumes are flame retardant nowadays, Kiplinger said, but parents and trick-or-treaters still need to be aware of open flames around costumes.

Both the police and fire departments are asking that anyone who does trick or treat to be cautious of traffic and be careful when entering the street between two parked cars where it is much harder for a driver to spot someone walking across the street.

"But the safest thing anyone can do is to come down to Scare on the Square," Kiplinger said. "I highly recommend that people come downtown for the event, because it's a fun and safe activity that is family oriented. Merchants will be giving away a lot of candy, and the streets will be blocked off."

Other tips for a safe Halloween this year include only visiting homes with porch lights on, making sure Halloween decorations are kept away from open flames, and carrying disposable glow sticks when walking down the street to make children highly visible at night. The police have also cautioned against allowing children to carry toy swords, knives or similar weapons such as accessories made out of flexible plastic or soft material.

The Nacogdoches Police Department will be patrolling neighborhoods "heavily" Saturday night to monitor traffic and deter any vandalism, according to an NPD press release.