Find out which halloween costumes pass the flame test?

Cute trick or treaters at your door.

Spooky jack o lanterns on the walk.  A typical Halloween.  A potentially disastrous combination.

Halloween costumes look harmless…a cute devil, a lovely princess, a scary evil eye.  But it’s the combination of costumes and open flames where the trouble can start.  The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says costumes should be flame resistant.

If a costume is flame resistant, if it comes in contact with fire, but then the fire is removed, the costume should self-extinguish.

That’s just what happened when we tried to light this evil eye skull costume.  Everywhere we touched it with flame, when the flame was pulled away, the fire went out.

But evil eye was the exception in our experiment.  Look what happened when we touched the lil devil costume with a flame.  Within one minute the costume was destroyed.

Same story with the princess.

Destroyed in less than a minute.

For our children and adults accessories like this feather boa make great Halloween costumes, but watch out.

The boa burned up in 90 seconds.

A hula skirt?  Gone in 60 seconds.

One of the most popular items for making a homemade costume, a 100% cotton sheet, also one of the most dangerous.

Within 45 seconds, your ghost costume would be a ball of flames.

If you want to reduce the risk of your costume going up in flames, the Washington Hospital Center has a recipe that can make your costume more fire resistant.

Mix four ounces of boric acid with 9 ounces of borax.  Dissolve in a gallon of warm water.  Soak the costume and let drip dry.

For homeowners, one measure of precaution, keep lighted jack o lanterns out of the path of trick or treaters.

And while a lighted jack o lantern is the symbol of Halloween, don’t place them where little ghouls and goblins are prowling.

And an even better idea…use a tiny flashlight to illuminate carved pumpkins