I was wondering what you do for the Pumpkin Carving Night? I am in Mass. it would be a great fundraiser/family gathering for us!! I would appreciate any tips you have.
thanks. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Do you happen to have the flyer that you used last year for the Trunk or Treating?? If so, would like to share it! My e-mail is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Our K-2 school has had an annual Pumpkin Patch for the last 10 years. The PTO purchases a small pumpkin for every child in the school from a local farm. They deliver the pumpkins to the school and we set up in an interior courtyard. We decorate with bales of hay, cornstalks and scarecrows.
Each class is scheduled to visit the Pumpkin Patch over a two-day period. Volunteers help the kids pick out the "perfect" pumpkin to take home. Teachers and students dress up in jeans or overalls, plaid shirts and cowboy hats for the day they visit the Patch.
This past fall, the PTO sponsored a family pumpkin-carving night. Admission was $2.00 per child. The PTO provided stencils and carving tools. This was a big hit and sold out in a few days.
We do one, but for our scouts, not PTO. Anyhow, we have a local nursery that gives us the pumpkins on consignment. We return anything we don't sell at the end of the day. In the few years we have done it we have sold out of all the pumpkins.
While we do get some large pumpkins the majority of them are the smaller ones. We have a painting table set up, so the kids pick their pumpkin and then paint it.
We bring the pumpkin patch to our school. I deal with a local farm, who sells the pumpkins to us for a very cheap price.We charge each child a dollar for a pumkin. They pre order(some kids buy 3-5 pumpkins) We roll the pumkins all over the school yard and each class comes out.
I like to see every child happy, so whether or not you've paid, every child walks away with a pumpkin. This is not a fundraiser but just something fun for the kids!
I've never organized one, but our church has a pumpkin patch each fall as a fundraiser for the youth group.
In their case, they work with a farmer in that business. You contract to buy X amount of the pumpkins. (We get about 2/3 of a semi truck worth.) The farmer has all the prices already set (size of pumpkins, gourds, wheat stalks, miniature gourd pumpkins, etc.) I think you basically sell what you can, throw away what spoils or doesn't sell and report back to the farmer. So it's kind of the honor system. It's something like a 50/50 split. (Might be 60/40).
It's well organized and lots of people do buy their pumpkins there. But you really have to be ready to sell the idea "its for charity". The prices are high - people could easily purchase their pumpkin at the local grocery store for 1/3 the price. I know I was shocked the first time we went as a customer. But the pricing is consistent with other fund-raising pumpkin patches in our area.
P.S. They also set up a nice decorative area out front as a product display and for people to use to take pictures. Families with babies/toddlers love that!
