It’s true! Halloween is a night when parents don’t need to be parents. They can soak it in — and should — for it only lasts a few hours.

Think about it, you get to dress up and have fun in ways you can’t on other holidays. You get to bag the whole “don’t talk to strangers” lecture for the night. You get to eat your kid’s candy (for safety-check reasons, of course, even though you snag the good pieces and leave the dots and peppermints); and, if you are so inclined, you can pass off wine as a costume accessory (think drinking blood).

I mean, it’s GREAAAAATTTT!

Most importantly, though, Halloween is an opportunity to be a kid with your kid. Your attitude and preparedness can make all the difference in the world. So, don’t sweat the small stuff and focus on keeping it fun.

Here are some tips for doing both:

1. Don’t get discouraged when your child decides two days before Halloween that they want a different costume. You know it’s going to happen at some point, so just roll with it. When all else fails, you know you’ve got an old bed sheet and being a ghost will never go out of style.

2. Costume malfunctions will happen and consider yourself lucky if one of your children doesn’t need to poop or pee while in their costume — because that is a recipe for disaster

3. With all the stress we are under as parents, let loose on Halloween night. Let them eat the candy until they are lunatics — laugh and roll with it, literally and figuratively — because we all know one of our kids is going to trip in the dark

4. Speaking of tripping in the dark, all you really need to survive trick or treat night are duct tape and wipes. Duct tape will put any Halloween costume piece back on when it falls off in the first five minutes, and wipes, well they are good for just about any mess, your kid trips and gets a bloody knee, wipes; candy smeared all over their face, wipes; kid poops in his Halloween costume, wipes. You are totally covered with those two necessities.

5. When it comes to candy thievery, it’s all about the age of your child

2-3 year olds: They don’t know the difference between a Snickers and a mint, so keep the good stuff for yourself.

Have school-age kids? They are a bit smarter, and arguably more passionate about their sweets, so wait until they go to sleep, then take some of the good stuff and tell yourself it’s best for your child’s health, teeth, whatever. You are not stealing from them, you are being a model parent by protecting what you know they won’t.

6. Some kid will have the same costume as your kid; don’t make a big deal over it and certainly don’t make it a competition. Remember, you could be only one false step away from using that duct tape.

7. Teenagers that trick or treat and make zero effort to dress up, they get the scrap candy. Sorry kids, you should have thrown on a wig or used some hair dye.

8. If you run out of candy at your house, turn off the lights and be done with it. Don’t dig up Pop-Tarts, fruit, or whatever else you can pass off, just call it a night — we all understand.

9. If your child states that it itches or bothers them before you leave your house, believe them or you will spend the rest of the night hearing about it.

10. There will always be that one Supermom who starting making her kid’s Halloween costume on Nov. 1 of last year and looks like something right out of a movie. If that’s you, kudos, but for the rest of us, pat yourselves on the back for your effort. We all only have so much to give — it’s OK to recycle an outfit used during “spirit week” as your kids costume. If it was good enough then, it’s good enough now.

Here’s hoping you make this Halloween your best ever!

And remember — You gave them life — the least they can give you is some of their candy.