street displays with your neighbours...
..it doesn't need to be a whole street!
There is alot of community spirit if you know where to look!
Halloween is actually one of those moments that can bring folk together if we get together.
The key to this is probably having one person locate good pumpkins & either drive down with the children & pick them or arrange for a best choice pick by one person & then store, gut & display as a team.
If getting your pumpkins several weeks in advance (recommended) then sit them in a cool dark place on carpet or cardboard, & keep it vermin-proof unless you want your precious pumpkins risk a gnawing.
Well stored a pumpkin or squash can last many months.. especially if picked straight from the field or from the farmers pumpkin bins, basically before they succumb to being heavily bumped around by any process that eventually sends them to the shops..
even a small car, we have an A class Mercedes will accomodate around 10 giant (by supermarket standards) pumpkins in the boot, more if we stick them in the footwell & give one to each adult passenger to hold!
Try using Bigbarn.co.uk to find who is growing Pumpkins & squashes from september onwards, by visiting a farmer directly (prior arrangement of course) ..you'll be supporting a farmer at the gate, & if buying enough perhaps a cheaper deal, what you don't carve you can always eat! ..see my pumpkin recipe page, ..there are quite a few!
(wash em in the shower)
If you have contemplated a pumpkin carving get together then why not get a small street display together? ..it won't be just your house the kids get a brief thrill from it will be a street of spookiness that springs to mind, lets give the children & parents something to look at!
If you can raise your pumpkins off the ground that's a great start, something like a stool or a kitchen breakfast bar stool, draped with a basic cloth cover will make for good visuals & photography scene setting..
Lots of folks have hanging baskets in summer, so why not get a pumpkin hanger set from Ryan at Zombie pumpkins & display from a tree limb, bush, etc.. effective & cheap.
(i've walked beneath mine for a month in a windy area after halloween, they;re designed very well with screw plugs for holding the lid on, it's wire construction makes for an over engineered ((good)) cheap piece of visual display).
We've even seen the pumpkin hangers used on flat balconies..
Garden Planters, upturned plant pots, dad's work bench, all sorts of temporary displays can be cobbled together at a moments notice.
Please remember:
If you display where visitors are walking then please keep naked flames to the rear of a display & led lighting to the front, minimising any potential problems.
Halloween is actually one of those moments that can bring folk together if we get together.
The key to this is probably having one person locate good pumpkins & either drive down with the children & pick them or arrange for a best choice pick by one person & then store, gut & display as a team.
If getting your pumpkins several weeks in advance (recommended) then sit them in a cool dark place on carpet or cardboard, & keep it vermin-proof unless you want your precious pumpkins risk a gnawing.
Well stored a pumpkin or squash can last many months.. especially if picked straight from the field or from the farmers pumpkin bins, basically before they succumb to being heavily bumped around by any process that eventually sends them to the shops..
even a small car, we have an A class Mercedes will accomodate around 10 giant (by supermarket standards) pumpkins in the boot, more if we stick them in the footwell & give one to each adult passenger to hold!
Try using Bigbarn.co.uk to find who is growing Pumpkins & squashes from september onwards, by visiting a farmer directly (prior arrangement of course) ..you'll be supporting a farmer at the gate, & if buying enough perhaps a cheaper deal, what you don't carve you can always eat! ..see my pumpkin recipe page, ..there are quite a few!
(wash em in the shower)
If you have contemplated a pumpkin carving get together then why not get a small street display together? ..it won't be just your house the kids get a brief thrill from it will be a street of spookiness that springs to mind, lets give the children & parents something to look at!
If you can raise your pumpkins off the ground that's a great start, something like a stool or a kitchen breakfast bar stool, draped with a basic cloth cover will make for good visuals & photography scene setting..
Lots of folks have hanging baskets in summer, so why not get a pumpkin hanger set from Ryan at Zombie pumpkins & display from a tree limb, bush, etc.. effective & cheap.
(i've walked beneath mine for a month in a windy area after halloween, they;re designed very well with screw plugs for holding the lid on, it's wire construction makes for an over engineered ((good)) cheap piece of visual display).
We've even seen the pumpkin hangers used on flat balconies..
Garden Planters, upturned plant pots, dad's work bench, all sorts of temporary displays can be cobbled together at a moments notice.
Please remember:
If you display where visitors are walking then please keep naked flames to the rear of a display & led lighting to the front, minimising any potential problems.