Winter Holiday Poison Safety

The Full Story

People celebrate the winter holidays in many different ways: traveling to visit friends or family, hosting gatherings at home, decorating, cooking, and exchanging gifts. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Las Posadas, Winter Solstice, Soyal, or just enjoy some time at home with your loved ones, you can keep a poisoning mishap from ruining your festivities during the winter holiday season! 

Even the most conscientious parents and safety-minded people experience unintentional poisoning emergencies. That’s why Poison Control stands ready to help you 24 hours day, year-round (including holidays!), judgement and cost-free. Click here to save the vCard for Poison Control in your smartphone. If someone may have gotten into a poison you can use webPOISONCONTROL® for help online or call 1-800-222-1222 to speak with a specialist. Both options can provide guidance if someone swallows a poison, breathes it in, or gets it in the eyes or on the skin. It's also OK to call if you just have a question about potential poisons. 

Winter Holiday Poison Safety Tips:

• The risk of poisonings increases when families travel and kids are in unfamiliar surroundings, especially when those surroundings haven’t been modified for child safety. Staying in a hotel or someone else’s home? Make sure there are carbon monoxide detectors, and make sure that any medications, items containing button batteries, alcohol, and cannabis (THC) edibles are not within reach of your little ones.
• Doing a quick clean up after a party could prevent children from swallowing potential poisons like alcohol, cigarette butts, and cannabis edibles the next morning.
• Some holiday decorations and plants can be poisonous. Good news, though – poinsettias aren’t considered a poisonous plant!
• Button batteries, found in toys, remote controls, key fobs, singing cards, flameless candles, and many other items, are VERY dangerous if children swallow them! If a child swallows a button battery, head to an emergency room for an x-ray and call Poison Control at 1 (800) 222-1222 on the way.
• Tiny magnets and water beads are also very dangerous if children swallow them. Keep these items out of sight and reach of babies, toddlers, and younger children.
• There are more than 250 types of food poisoning, but there are also several ways to prevent it. Brush up on your food poisoning prevention knowledge here.

Rose Ann Gould Soloway, RN, BSN, MSEd, DABAT emerita
Clinical Toxicologist

Krista Osterthaler, MPH