Each Fall, rather than a traditional costume contest for a halloween party, our friends get together for a pumpkin contest. What began as a simple entrance fee to the party escalated year after year into an outlet for exploring creativity in friendly competition. Over time, every person developed their own method for their pumpkin creation. One person chose to use whatever items were in his house to create his pumpkin 15 minutes prior to the start of the party. Others chose various themes, like children’s book characters, pumpkins disguised as something else, extreme pumpkins (such as the photo above), or whatever their imaginations revealed.
My underlying theme was for the pumpkin to be interactive. Meaning, the pumpkin I created always had to engage the party-goer. The first year, I created a pumpkin planetarium, where you had to look inside the pumpkin to find a constellation (Orion, the Hunter) of glow-in-the-dark stars. Throughout the years, I contrived a pumpkin bagpiper that played music, a pez-dispensing pumpkin and a fully-functional pumpkin clock.
My biggest competition was my wife. She would devise pumpkins that were truly extreme, such as a pumpkin giving birth or a cannibal pumpkin. The ultimate goal was not to brag, but the mystery winning pumpkin prizes. These were usually re-gifted items from the host’s house. My favorite moment was receiving a Ludwig Van Beethoven “action figure,” now sitting on my desk – for first prize.
Moments 