Thread: Pumpkin Carving Contest Ideas

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Hey. What's up everyone? I was wondering if anyone here had ever been to a pumpkin carving contest and would mind sharing some tips?

Long story short, I'm part of a group and I am wanting for us to put on a pumpkin carving contest this October; however, I've never attended one and have no idea what to expect. In general, I had thought about having 3 judges, 1 from our RHA, 1 from Greek Life, 1 from SGA, just so nobody can say there's any major bias. I figure that a pumpkin and a cheap carving kit (like from wal-mart) would probably run about $10, so possibly having a $20 fee. We could even try to coordinate it with the university's halloween carnival they put on for the kids. I had thought about having 3 categories: 1. overall best look, 2. best according to them and 3. crowd favorite.

.....and then... I get a little conflicted. I mean, should the contestants have to carve the pumpkin there? Or should they just bring it and show it off? Should we even provide a carving kit or just let them bring their own, and if they bring their own, then how can you make it a level playing field? Are the 3 categories decent, or should I do something else?

I'm just a little anxious about it since nobody around here (to my knowledge) has done one before. I think that it'd be a lot of fun and would be a decent fundraiser for my group; however, I'm just not entirely certain how exactly to do it.

Thank y'all so much for your help.

Most contests I've entered you bring the pumpkin in already carved. On the other hand, if you've got a big open outdoor area where it's not a problem if you make a mess, you should probably have them carve it there. This way you can confirm that the carving is original.

And that's the main issue I have with entering contests. They must forbid commercial patterns. This is a contest of skill, not a contest of connect-the-dots. Whenever the organizers just don't care I've always lost to the Haunted House pattern that Pumpkin Masters has been printing ever since they opened. For some reason this one always seems to win, and it's just not fair. So if you have them bring it in, you might want to have this year's Pumpkin Masters books on hand to at least try to weed out the ones who used a pattern (you'll never know for sure though, there's too many websites or other brands it could have come from).

There's no way to check every single pumpkin carving to make sure it's not a commercially available one.

Definitely have contest entries bring their pumpkins and not do it there - that would take FOREVER if you've got some folks that do pretty involved carving, you'd have to pay for materials, AND you would have to have a clean-up crew also for all of the pumpkin guts and carving mess. Letting them pick out their own pumpkin, carve it at home and bring it themselves saves you from lugging a bunch of heavy materials to the site, and what if you ran out and still had someone that wanted to enter?

It also encourages the really amazing and detailed ones if they know they can get them done before and just bring them to show off. (but I'd make sure it was VERY clear: "participants should bring their completed pumpkin creations to the location" or something).

I would do three categories like:
Best overall
Most creative (can use paint, objects, carve, anything goes...)
Most humorous or crowd favorite

If you are going to do it in conjunction with a kids' carnival, it would be really cool to have a few categories for under 14 kids - maybe do the same categories as the adult contest. You'd have to make sure and get the word out to the kids so they also know they can enter, so advertising both of these would be essential if you are going to have them bring in finished pumpkins as apposed to carving on-site. (which I'm not adverse to, just think you'd have to provide a ton of carving stuff and time the event so they don't take all day and there is the mess factor).

Couple of other things to think about.
1. No vulgarity (if kids are going to be seeing these) I'd make sure that was stated.
2. Someone needs to be hanging out and watching to make sure that the pumpkins are not messed up or accidentally smashed.
3. Prizes? I'd actually lower the entry fee to encourage more folks to participate ($10 an entry) and offer some sort of gift certificate and a snazzy trophy. Check this forum over in the party section for homemade trophy ideas, but there are pretty cheap trophies available in party stores and maybe you could even get a trophy place to kick in some little ones for cheap or free if this is a fundraiser in exchange for some free advertising on the flyers and such. Same thing for the gift certificates or whatever. Pitch it to businesses around the area about a small gift certificate or even something they make/sell could be donated as a prize, then you'll put their logo on the flyers and other advertisements and thank them all for their generous donation at the prize awarding time... a bit more involvement in getting the donations, but it would save you the entry fees for your charity or fundraiser.

That way, the judges (and I do agree with your thinking on who should judge) can select the ones that are the best fit, you've got one category that is open to seriously intricate carving (best overall), or arty types (creative) and a funny category will definitely end up being a crowd pleaser too.

Not to complicate matters, here's a thought...why not have 2 contests; one where contestants bring their already-carved pumpkins, and another where the contestants carve it there. For the carve-it-there contest, have a time limit (maybe one hour).

Frankie's Girl has a great idea in getting local businesses to donate prizes. If you're using the event as a fundraiser for a local charity/organization, perhaps you can get local businesses or farms to donate pumpkins for carving, as well as food or drinks to serve/sell. The contestants get prizes, local businesses get good PR and maybe a tax deduction, a worthy charity gets the proceeds, and everyone has fun. It's a win-win-win-win situation.

I've seen on the spot carving contests. They're usually a lot of fun.

How my school did a pumpkin carving contest was to have people show up on a certain day to pick up their pumpkin and carving tools. They'd have to return them either late that night or the next day for judging. Judging was by popular decision and the pumpkins were labeled with a simple code. It kept things pretty fair as competitors were not allowed to vote and were sequestered from the judging area during the voting period.