Now that Halloween is behind us, we’re sure to have a few pumpkins still kicking around. It might be those ones that you didn’t quite get to carving, or the carved ones that are starting to droop and sag a wee bit.
I’m typically quite quick to trash everything, but this year I thought it might be fun get a little more use out of those pumpkins. My idea comes from an activity that my brother and family attended at a corn maze near them in northern Saskatchewan.
At the maze, they had an area where you could purchase pumpkins and roll them down the hill, trying to hit any number of targets. If you hit a target, you won a pumpkin to take home.
The idea of rolling pumpkins down a hill, trying to hit things, really appeals to me and it also makes me think of the popular Price is Right game Plinko, which doubles the appeal.
So my proposal is that we invite friends to a hill or valley nearby with their pumpkins in tow. Set up a few targets at various places down the hill, such as cardboard boxes or any other decorations you might be ready to discard, and have people roll their pumpkins, attempting to hit the targets.
If you want to get fancy, have a few prizes assigned to each target, or a prize for hitting the most targets, etc. Honestly, Christmas ornaments would be fun prizes and would make for a great transition of seasons. I’d say that as long as a pumpkin can still roll, you can keep trying for targets. So haul it back up the hill and try again.
It’s getting a little chillier during the days so bringing thermoses of hot chocolate, coffee or pumpkin spiced lattes would be a great idea. We want to always be responsible citizens and stewards of our neighbourhoods, so make sure you clean up your targets, as well as any pumpkins that may or may not fall apart during the activities.
