Top Safety Tips for Thanksgiving for a Safe, Happy Holiday

Discover our top Thanksgiving safety tips for a happy and healthy holiday. This post covers precautions to take when cooking, traveling, and preparing food for your guests.

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is a top day for cooking related fires in the home. There also tend to be a lot more kitchen and travel accidents this time of year. To help avoid turning your holiday upside-down with a mishap, we rounded up a collection of the best Thanksgiving safety tips. These tips are just a basic reminder of where you need to take extra precautions to keep you and your family safe. So, you can simply enjoy a well fed and happy holiday without incident!

Thanksgiving Safety Tips

When you think about Thanksgiving, staying safe likely isn’t something that automatically springs to mind. (Unless maybe you have relatives that terrify you every holiday for one reason or another.)
 
However, cooking fires are common this time year, with Thanksgiving being a peak day for cooking fires. Not only are more people spending time in the kitchen preparing for guests, but there are also a lot of folks who are making Thanksgiving dinner themselves for the very first time.
 
Therefore, in order to help you avoid any unanticipated surprises, as well as any potential disasters such as a kitchen fire, we’ve put together a list of our top Thanksgiving safety tips to keep you and your loved ones safe.

Cooking and Fire Safety

• This is probably the #1 safety tip when cooking Thanksgiving dinner as it seems to be a common occurrence. If you’re planning to deep fry your Thanksgiving turkey, make sure it has completely thawed before adding it to the hot oil. Otherwise, it will explode. (Case in point.)
• Don’t leave your home while you have the turkey cooking in the oven. Fires can happen while you’re away and you won’t know until it’s too late. You should also check on your turkey regularly.
• Just as you taught when you were a child, never leave food cooking unattended on the stovetop. Pots can boil over or food may overcook and burn.
• Keep small children out of the kitchen while you’re preparing dinner. If they’re old enough to help with tasks, then make sure they stay at least three feet from the stove to avoid accidental burns.
• Avoid leaving candles lit in empty rooms where you can’t keep an eye out for fires. You also don’t want to leave kids alone in a room where you have candles burning.
• Don’t leave knives, matches, or lighters out where children have easy access. When parents are busy with tasks for holiday preparations, kids’ inquisitive nature can sometimes get the best of them.

• Double check your smoke alarms to ensure they are in proper working order. You can easily test them by pushing the test button.
• Take care to keep electrical cords contained. You don’t want them to hang off the counter where they can be grabbed by little hands. And you definitely don’t want to trip over a stray cord yourself.
• Never try to put out a kitchen fire with water. Instead, invest in a small fire extinguisher or keep baking soda on hand.
• Take care to keep belongings picked up off the floor to avoid tripping.
• More than 300K people end up in the ER each year from knife lacerations. Therefore, be extra cautious when using cutlery and avoid being distracted when you have a blade in hand.
• Put your phone down while cooking! Research shows that distractions while cooking most often result in knife-related injuries.

Food Safety Tips for Thanksgiving

Foodborne illness is never fun. Not only do we want to protect ourselves from getting sick unnecessarily, it’s also vital that we keep our pets in mind as well. Here are some simple rules to follow this Thanksgiving to ensure food safety.
 

• Always wash your hands well with soap and water after handling raw poultry.
• You should also use separate cutting boards for preparing raw meat and produce to avoid cross contamination.
• Cook your turkey thoroughly to avoid illness cause by under-cooked meat. It’s recommended by the USDA that you cook your bird a minimum of no less than 325°F. It’s safe to consumer once it reaches an internal temperature of 165 to 180 degrees.
• Leftovers should be put away in the fridge within two hours for food safety. Anything that’s been left out too long should be tossed.
• Don’t feed pets remnants from your Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey and chicken bones are a huge choking hazard for pets. Dogs should also not be given anything that contains onions, leeks, garlic, raisins, grapes, or chocolate, as these foods are toxic to your furry friends and can cause health problems.

Thanksgiving Travel Safety Tips

Most of us travel for the holidays. Whether we’re visiting friends or family or need to make that last minute run to the grocery store, it’s important to be cautious and extra diligent on the holiday. Following are our best Thanksgiving safety tips to consider when you travel.
 

• 40% of car accidents that occur over a holiday are caused by driving under the influence. Therefore, don’t drink and drive. If you’ve been drinking, call a ride or get a sober friend to drive you home.
• Many of us travel for the holiday season. However, weather conditions this time of year are constantly changing. Be prepared and keep an emergency kit in your car. We also recommend the 5-in-1 LifeTool which comes equipped with a tire pressure gauge, glass breaker, seat belt cutter, LED light, and compass.
• If you are traveling to visit friends and family, make sure to plan your route ahead of time. You should also make sure your vehicle is properly maintained. This includes checking things like oil life, tire pressure and brakes.
• Make sure to wear seatbelts when traveling and never text and drive.
• Stay aware of changing weather conditions to avoid unsafe situations. You should also look up the weather forecast prior to traveling or solidifying plans.

We hope you found our Thanksgiving safety tips helpful! For more ways to stay safe and help protect your friends, family and community, be sure to check out our emergency and safety tip magnets. These custom magnets can be personalized with your business information. So, they’re a great way to look out for your neighbor, while also staying in the forefront of your customers’ minds.

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