Pumpkins, Prizes, Smashes, Smiles

We carved the pumpkins a couple days before Halloween. I thought it would be a fun activity for my son and I but he was less impressed. He didn't want to touch the goop inside the pumpkin, but he did love pulling out the cutout shapes after I had carved them. As he did at the Pumpkin Party, he gave creative direction on what the pumpkin should look like.

 

We did make roasted pumpkin seeds, and those were a hit at least for one snack. I ended up eating most of the seeds.

As you may have already seen, I did win the Trunk or Treat prize for "most environmentally friendly." All I did was carve "Compost Me" into the back of the largest pumpkin.The judges from the fire department were going to give me the prize based solely on the fact that I had real, live pumpkins--that's how slim the competition was. So when they saw "Compost Me" I think it was a nice bonus that there actually was an environmental message. But hey! I won! The shiny new numbers on my mailbox will be courtesy of the fire department Trunk or Treat contest.

And then perhaps the most fun we had with our pumpkins came after Halloween when we smashed them. This was of course necessary so they would break down faster in our compost pile. My son definitely enjoyed it, and I did too. I smashed the biggest one before letting him to the smaller 3. Here is a video showcasing his efforts. He is a good pumpkin smasher!