Avoid a nightmare before Christmas by prioritising your winter home security

October 26, 2021

For those who celebrate, Christmas is the most
wonderful time of the year. From Christmas work parties, festive meals out with
friends and even an afternoon of visiting Santa with the kids, there are many
occasions when we head out of the house to enjoy the festivities of the season.

But with statistics often revealing a spike in
burglaries over the winter months, and more recent figures from the Office for National Statistics
suggesting that three in five burglaries occur during the hours of darkness or
during dawn or dusk¹, now is the perfect time for a home security
upgrade.

So, what steps can you take to ensure you and your
family don’t have a nightmare before Christmas? The home security experts at Yale have shared their top
tips for a fuss-free festive season, so you can protect what matters most to
you when you leave your property, ‘home alone’.

Step 1 – Securing the front of your home

This National Home Security Month, we’ve regularly
highlighted how important it is to ensure your front door security is up to
scratch. With statistics showing that this part of the home is the most
vulnerable to opportunist attacks, it’s essential that you have all the
necessary home security measures in place to prevent you from being a target.

With our advice throughout this year’s campaign
suggesting you should opt for a lock upgrade to that of a 3 Star Cylinder option, over the festive
period, we’d also recommend lighting up your home.

With the afternoon’s being plunged into darkness
throughout the festive season, security lighting is not only a festive addition
to the front of your home but keeps your entrance in full light to stop
opportunists lurking in the shadows. Burglars don’t want to be caught
red-handed, so will avoid well-lit homes in replace of those that they can
easily scope out undetected.

Step 2 – Protect those parcels

When we’re out and about enjoying all the
festivities the season has to offer, we can often forget about those many
Christmas deliveries that will be landing on our doorstep. With a well-lit
entrance space, if we’re not in to collect our parcels and these are left in an
obvious location, Christmas will have come early for opportunists in your local
area.

And with around 7.5 million parcels being lost or
stolen since the start of lockdown last year², we wouldn’t want
those well-thought-out Christmas gifts being taken, would we? Well, here’s your
answer to protecting your parcels; the Smart Delivery Box.

The
Smart Delivery Box has been designed as a perfect solution to protect your
deliveries and ensure they are kept in a safe place when you’re out and about,
preventing them from being misplaced, damaged or, in the worst-case scenario,
stolen.

And
as we start stocking up on stocking fillers and making sure we get everything
on our Christmas lists, the Smart Delivery Box can help you to avoid a
‘nightmare before Christmas’ by keeping your parcels safe until you return
home.

Step 3 – Better ‘safe’ than sorry

Once you’ve got all those parcels safely delivered
via your Smart Delivery Box, it’s important that you keep them safe whilst
they’re in your home too.

A maximum security safe is the perfect option
for inside your home, allowing you to store any valuable gifts to keep them not
only under wraps ahead of the Big Day, but also ensure they are secured in case
your home is targeted by burglars.

Step 4 – Keep your present under wraps

If you love the tradition of putting your Christmas
gifts under the tree, then you may also be enticing burglars to target your
home.

If your Christmas tree is positioned near a window,
then bright lights will show any passing opportunists that you have an array of
treats lying under the tree, and they could make a beeline for your festive
treats.

We’d recommend storing them securely in a safe, as per step three, or keeping them hidden away in a spare room or wardrobe, to ensure they’re not in plain sight.

And when it comes to the Big Day itself, there are a few things you can do to prevent your home from being on a burglar’s watch list. If you’re one for sharing your wares on social media, we’d remind you to think twice before pressing ‘post’.

If your social media security settings aren’t up to scratch, local opportunists could be scoping out the jewellery, electronics and other expensive treats you had for Christmas from the comfort of their own home, knowing that entering your home would be a festive treat for them.

Step 5 – Step up your home security

And to stop those criminals looking to enter your
home over the festive season, you could also look to step up your home security
with the addition of a smart home alarm.

Smart alarms are a great way of allowing you to check in on your home from
anywhere in the world via your smartphone, monitoring any motion in or around
the home via real-time alerts and notifications.

So, if you’re spending Christmas away from your home, whether that’s on holiday or at a friend or family member’s house, then you can always keep an eye on any motion in your home and will ensure you won’t have any nasty surprises when you return.

And if you need more help and advice on how
to secure your home this Christmas and beyond, be sure to visit www.yalehome.co.uk.

¹This Is Money,
2021

²Confused.com,
2021