7 Tips to Deep Fry Your Turkey Safely

Photo via Flickr User Gunther Hagleitner

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, and one of the most popular and delicious ways to cook your turkey is to deep-fry it. What’s not to love? It’s a fast cooking method, the end result is juicy and golden brown, and the flavor is top notch. Unfortunately, it can be quite a dangerous way to cook without proper preparation, with burns and other related injuries commonplace. In fact, so many people approach the process of deep-frying their Thanksgiving turkey incorrectly and get hurt that the National Fire Protection Association actually discourages using the method.

It doesn’t have to be this way, however. With just a dash of proper prep, the juiciest, most delicious deep-fried turkey you’ve ever tasted is within reach. Here are a few things you should keep in mind.

How to Guest-Prep Your Home for the Holidays

Photo via Flickr User Maegan Tintari

The Holiday season is well underway and before you know it, hordes of friends, family, and guests will descend upon your home, eager to feast, have a good time, and enjoy the company of one another. Unfortunately, with the hustle and bustle of the Holidays, it’s quite easy to overlook the fact that your home should be prepared for guests before they actually arrive.

From stocking up on essential items, to making certain guests have comfortable places to relax, there are many things that need to be done to ensure you’re not running about like a chicken with its head cut off once people knock on your door.

If you’re reading this, you’re in luck. We’ve compiled a checklist of essential tasks that can be done now to not only make sure your home is ready to host visitors, but ensure you can relax along with everyone once they arrive as well.

So break out your work gloves. You have a house to attend to!

How to Trick or Treat Safely

The big day is right around the corner! This weekend, your kids will suit up into their chosen costume and take to the streets, eager to fill plastic pumpkin pails and pillowcases full of enough candy to have a toothache that lasts to Easter.

Halloween is one of the most anticipated nights of the year for children, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, safety concerns often get lost in the shuffle. This is scary when you think about it, because on average, twice as many child pedestrians are killed while walking on Halloween in comparison to other days of the year. What is even scarier is that although ¾ of parents express concerns over Halloween safety issues, only 1/3 actually talk to their kids about it.

So don’t fall into the same boat. This year, take a few seconds to talk to your children about Halloween safety. Your kids will be able to have a fun night, and you won’t have to worry about whether or not they choose to make safe, well-informed decisions.

Here are HeltonTool’s top trick or treat safety tips to discuss with your kids.

6 DIY Halloween Crafts to Make With Your Kids

When it comes right down to it, Halloween can be a very family-focused holiday. From making treats, to creating DIY decorations, to even whipping up a terrifying feast, the scariest day of the year presents many opportunities to get together as a family and bond.

Creating your own Halloween crafts is no exception. It’s a blast, it’s the perfect way to get together and do stuff as a family, and best of all, it’s a great way for your kids to flex their creative muscles. So this weekend, get in the Halloween mood by gathering up your family and making something scary together.

Here are 6 kid-friendly ideas to get you started, each of which is more than capable of scaring up a healthy dose of wholesome family fun.

How to Make a Fangtastic Halloween Feast

Halloween is right around the corner, and there’s no better time than now to plan a spooktacular feast for your friends and family.  Normal feast fixings like turkey, mashed potatoes, and the like just won’t cut it though. For Halloween, you want a feast capable of not only satisfying your family’s hunger, but frightening them beyond the brinks of sanity as well.

So this year, break out the big guns. Show your family you care by whipping up a fangtastic feast that even Dracula himself would be proud of. Don’t worry, either. We at HeltonTool won’t leave you hanging. Here are several course ideas sure to evoke a scream or two. It is the most terrifying day of the year, after all.

Winterize Your Yard in 7 Easy Steps

It’s officially fall! The temperature is dropping, the leaves are falling, the days are getting shorter, and before long, snow will arrive. Any self-respecting homeowner knows to winterize his or her home this time of year to prepare it for the long, cold months ahead.

Unfortunately, going through the winterization process can be quite time-consuming. Gutters need to be cleaned, exterior water supplies need to be shut off, and roofs need to be inspected. The October checklist is long because many things need to be done to help keep energy costs down during the snowy season.

As such, yard care is often overlooked as part of the winterization process. This is a shame because, perhaps more than any other area around the home, yards need proper prep to survive during the winter and grow strong, healthy, and green come spring.

If you want to make sure your yard makes it through to springtime in one piece, now is the time to get it ready. With just a bit of time and energy, your yard will be protected for next year. Best of all, it will make your lawn 100 times more manageable in the spring and summer.

Just follow our step-by-step guide, and your yard will be covered in no time.