5 Holiday Safety Tips
The holiday season is for gathering with loved ones, enjoying great food, and taking a break from your usual responsibilities—but it also creates openings for safety and security risks. Between travel plans, package deliveries, and high-value gifts changing hands, the holidays are a prime time for home break-ins and mail theft.
Staying safe and secure means thinking ahead, reinforcing your home, and letting a security system do some of the work for you. Follow these holiday safety tips to boost your peace of mind and reduce the risk of an incident.
Make Your Home Look Lived-In
Homes that look empty invite intruders. Whether you’re heading out of town or just visiting friends for the day, take simple steps to make your house look occupied so it doesn’t get flagged as an easy target.
Use timers, Wi-Fi plugs, or smart lighting to turn lamps or holiday lights on and off. Stagger the schedule to avoid predictable patterns. Inside, stream a TV show or play music when you’re gone for a few hours. Outside, make sure your porch and garden lights are functioning and turned on at night.
Pause mail and newspaper deliveries if you’re traveling for more than a few days. A growing pile of packages or flyers at your door is a clear sign that no one is home. If possible, ask a neighbor to collect them for you.
Even little details like shoveling snow, clearing walkways, or mowing the lawn right before a trip help keep up appearances. If you’ll be away for a while, hire someone to maintain your yard or handle snow removal.
Secure Entry Points and Limit Access
Doors and windows are common entry points that demand attention. Ensure your front door closes securely with a deadbolt. Don’t rely on the factory lock on your sliding patio door—place a security bar in the track to prevent it from opening. For windows, especially on the first floor, install pin locks and security rods for added protection.
Avoid hiding spare keys under planters or doormats. These classic spots are the first place a potential intruder will check. Instead, give a spare to someone you trust or use a lockbox with a code. Better yet, upgrade to a smart lock for keyless entry and remote arming and disarming through a mobile app. You can assign unique, temporary access codes to anyone who’s pet-sitting or dropping off the mail while you’re away.
Boost your security efforts even more with window and door sensors, along with glass-break detectors that send instant alerts to your phone if a door opens unexpectedly or a window is shattered. And don’t forget your garage. Lock the interior door that leads from the garage to your living space, and lock any cars you’re leaving parked in the garage. For remote monitoring and access, consider installing a Wi-Fi garage door opener.
Be Cautious About Deliveries and Public Information
Online shopping and package deliveries peak during the holidays, and so does porch pirate activity. To protect your purchases, schedule deliveries for dates and times when someone will be home or choose pickup options from local retailers or lockers.
If you install a monitored home security system with video surveillance, you can use it to track when deliveries arrive and record suspicious activity. Pair it with a smart lock or Wi-Fi garage door opener to grant temporary access for drop-offs. The focus is on preventing theft, not merely gathering footage of a crime.
Think carefully about what you share on social media. Announcing travel plans, checking in at locations in real time, or posting photos of expensive gifts can expose your home to risk. Wait until you’re back to post about your vacation, and keep information about high-value items private or limited to close friends.
Keep Valuables Safe
Newly opened gifts inside your home are another area of concern, especially if they’re easy to see from the street. Keep valuable items out of sight, and close the blinds at night to limit visibility into your home.
Avoid leaving packaging for electronics or other high-ticket items at the curb. Break down boxes, turn them inside out, or take them to a recycling center to avoid advertising new purchases to anyone passing by.
Let Technology Take the Pressure Off
The right technology reduces stress and adds protection, especially when things get busy around the holidays. Monitored home security systems offer tools to stay connected, track what’s happening, and respond immediately if there’s a problem.
Set up motion sensors to detect unexpected activity around your home. Whether it’s someone approaching the front door, scaling the back fence, or sneaking through the living room, these sensors send instant alerts to your phone. Pair with a video doorbell, outdoor cameras, and indoor cameras for complete coverage and peace of mind.
Smart thermostats are often overlooked for their security features. They automatically monitor for unsafe temperature drops or humidity changes that could signal a broken HVAC system, water leak, or the potential for frozen pipes. Rather than coming home to a disaster, you can send someone over to investigate and remedy the problem.
Why You’ll Love a Home Security System from Alert 360
These tips are great, but pairing them with a strong security partner is even better. Alert 360 offers professionally installed, turn-key home security systems with 24/7 monitoring. Our solutions are backed by 50 years of experience and US-based customer service call centers if you ever need help.
Systems from Alert 360 are fully customizable—you can build your own setup with features like glass-break detection, intruder alerts, infrared motion sensors, environmental alerts, and facial-recognition technology for convenient arming and disarming. Control everything via the intuitive Alert 360 app and rest easy knowing you’re supported by our TMA Five Diamond-certified monitoring team.
Make Your Home Safer This Holiday Season
A professionally installed, user-customizable monitored home security system is the best gift you can give yourself this holiday season. With $0 down, 0% financing, and a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can get started with complete confidence. Contact us today to get a free quote for your home in the Houston Metro or DFW area.