10 ways to Secure your Home for Guests and Parties

The holiday season means an upsurge in home-based parties, and some parties can seem extremely innocent, like a Christmas tree decorating party. These events can get out of hand, even if you know all your guests. But sometimes your guests bring guests that are shady. It's awful to even acknowledge this, but even people you know can steal. I can tell you firsthand, there are people who have come to my home that I personally would have never invited. And when something goes missing, it's an absolutely horrible feeling. So here are a few tips for securing your home while you're actually in it.

1. The presence of liquor drives up the risk of criminal activity. Drunk people lose their inhibitions, do stupid things and if they're predisposed to stealing, they'll be even more tempted when their guard is down. Consider only serving beer and wine and leave the liquor in the cabinet.
2. Put as many of your valuables such as jewelry and electronics in a locked safe and conceal the safe. Better "safe" than sorry.
3. If there are presents under the tree days before Christmas, then hide the small gifts that a house guest can easily slip into their purse or pocket. Sad, but happens.
4. If you keep stacks of cash around and you plan on doing a lot of holiday entertaining, consider moving money to your bank for the holidays.
5. Lock off rooms during the party that you won't need to use.
6. Place a Piper home security, video monitoring and automation device at your front door in plain view. It has a 180-degree fish eye camera that can capture a video clip if there's any unusual activity, and you can view it on your iOS or Android mobile device. Piper also comes with a sticker to post on your front door alerting to the presence of a security system.
7. Do your best not to leave young children unattended with people they just met, including teenagers. This won't be easy, but a little vigilance can make a difference. You have more control over your young children than other peoples', so at least instruct your own kids never to go alone into any rooms with guests they don't know or hardly know.
8. Hide all keys and key chains so they aren't accidentally or purposely taken.
9. Make sure to lock all doors and windows at the conclusion of your event.
10. Have fun, don't worry about any of this, but definitely DO something to prevent it!