7 Home Security Tips to Protect Your Home and Family During the Holiday Season

1.) Lock doors and windows when you leave your home (upstairs too)--no matter the length of time you'll be gone. Do this even if you're only going next door for a minute. It only takes a minute for someone watching your departure to enter your home and swipe your gifts or other belongings in easy reach and sight (like your holiday gifts under the tree).

2.) Everybody loves to see a pile of gifts under the Christmas tree, including potential burglars. Don't leave piles of gifts in clear view of glass doors and windows with open blinds, especially when you go out. Your gifts may not be there when you return. In their place may be shattered glass.

3.) Find out who is at the door before you open it. Be wary of couriers you don't know delivering unexpected items or door-to-door solicitors asking for your money. Ask for identification. Ask questions. Don't make hasty decisions when it comes to donating your money. And don't invite these strangers into your home or entryway. You step outside to speak with them. If it's after dark and you're alone, don't feel obligated to open the door at all. In fact, you don't even need to open your door to deliveries after dark. Most couriers are allowed by their companies to leave packages under a certain value at your doorstep (in typically low crime neighborhoods) without requesting your signature and they will do so. Or you can call to make arrangements to pick up packages yourself at the delivery center.

4.) When you're planning to be away on extended visits to relatives and friends, ask neighbors who will be home to collect your newspapers and mail. If you don't want to do that, ask your carriers to hold or stop the deliveries. They will. Also, some home security experts recommend that you utilize automatic timers to work your indoor and outdoor lighting, radio and televisions to give the appearance that someone is home. But they suggest you try to change the pattern of when and where these items turn on and off so someone watching your home doesn't see this pattern (a clear indication that no one is really home).

5.) If you're having a holiday party, move and secure your valuables in the common areas of your home. While you may know who you've invited to your home for a party, you may not know their date or friend very well. If guests have to walk through your bedroom to get to a bathroom, don't leave tempting items like expensive (or even sentimental) jewelry in plain sight.

6.) Don't leave extra house keys under flower pots, loose bricks, fake rocks or on or attached under the rims of your doors and windows. Don't leave spare house keys in your automobiles not secured in garages. Also, don't buy those awful "labeled" container gadgets in the store to "hide-a-key". If you can't give your spare key to a "trusted" relative and you must leave one outside for whatever reason when you're away from your home, try to be a bit more creative with its hiding spot. And make sure nobody is watching when you hide the key.

 7.) Do a home security checkup. Put on your black hat and walk through your home, inside and out, with the eye of criminal. How would you break into your home if you had to do so and how long would it take you to do so? That's how long it will take a thief. An experienced thief with the right tools may take less time. You may want to have every member of your family do this home security walk-through including the children. Multiple minds will come up with more ideas. And what a perfect opportunity to talk about home security tips with your children.