How to Host a Pumpkin Carving Contest for Halloween

Hosting a pumpkin carving contest is a fun and festive way to celebrate Halloween and bring people together. From planning and promotion to voting and prizes, this guide covers everything you need to organize a successful event. Learn how to set contest categories, encourage creativity, and manage entries both in person and online. With SurveyLegend, you can easily collect votes using image-based surveys and track results in real time. Add excitement with themed prizes, engaging social media promotion, and live analytics to display results at your event. Get ready to make your Halloween unforgettable with a pumpkin carving contest everyone will love!

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Halloween is just around the corner, which means cooler weather, creative costumes, pumpkin spice lattes, fun-size candies, and of course, contests! Pumpkin carving contests are especially popular this time of year, with most taking place in October, making it the perfect month for Halloween-themed competitions. These contests are held at company parties, campus gatherings, and many other events. Many participants carve their pumpkins at home before bringing them to the contest for judging. If you’re holding a pumpkin carving contest, there’s no better way to determine a winner than with SurveyLegend. With our free online survey tool, you can add images to surveys and allow people to vote on their favorite pumpkin! Don’t miss the chance to enter your own pumpkin creation for a shot at winning.

Introduction to the Event

Hosting a pumpkin carving contest is a fantastic way to bring people together and celebrate Halloween in a fun and creative way. Whether you’re gathering friends, family, or colleagues, carving pumpkins is an activity that sparks inspiration and friendly competition. With a set of carving tools and a little imagination, contestants can transform ordinary pumpkins into amazing jack o’ lanterns that light up the night. Pumpkin Masters and other brands offer a variety of patterns and tools to help everyone—from beginners to seasoned carvers—create unique and eye-catching designs. Whether your event is all about the thrill of the contest and the chance to win great prizes, or simply about enjoying the creative process, a pumpkin carving contest is sure to be a highlight of your Halloween festivities. Encourage everyone to join in, share their carved masterpieces, and let the inspiration flow!

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Pumpkin Carving History

You’ve probably been carving pumpkins since you were a child – but how did this tradition even get started? Pumpkin carving can be traced back to Celtic cultures, which later became a staple of Irish culture. In fact, the term “Jack-o’-Lantern” is from an old Irish folk tale. Legend has it that a man named Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him, but tricked the Devil into picking up the tab.

After Jack passed away, he was cursed to wander the Earth at night for eternity as punishment, with only a single coal ember to guide him. Jack put his light in a hollowed-out turnip, and so people began to call him “Jack of the Lantern,” or “Jack-o’-Lantern” for short. To keep Jack away, the Irish began carving pumpkins in his likeness and lighting it with a candle to guide good spirits instead. When many Irish families immigrated to America in the 1800s, the tradition spread.

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Planning the Activity

A successful pumpkin carving contest starts with thoughtful planning. Begin by choosing a date and time that gives contestants plenty of opportunity to pick out their pumpkins and gather their favorite carving tools. Select a location that’s comfortable and safe, with enough space for everyone to carve and display their jack o’ lanterns. Decide on the contest categories—will you award the most creative, the scariest, or the cutest pumpkin? Maybe all three! Set a clear voting period so everyone knows when to submit their entries and when the winners will be announced. Don’t forget to line up some enticing prizes to motivate contestants and add excitement to the event. Make sure you have enough pumpkins, carving tools, and supplies on hand for everyone, and consider a backup plan in case of unexpected weather. With a little thought and preparation, your pumpkin carving contest will be a fun and memorable event for all.

Pumpkin Carving Contests

Many pumpkin carving contests are just for fun (or designed to get to the guts of the pumpkin in order to make delicious pumpkin pies, roasted seeds, and so on). In some contests, participants may bring finished, pre-carved pumpkins for judging, which can help save time and reduce mess at the event. Some contests also reward the extra work and creativity that goes into elaborate pumpkin designs. However, others can earn creative carvers some big bucks (Pumpkin Masters, for example, pays winners up to $5,000). There are also a number of TV shows dedicated to the spooky spirit of Halloween, including Outrageous Pumpkins and Halloween Wars, both of which appear on the Food Network. And get this – there are even underwater pumpkin carving contests, in which divers plunge into oceans, lakes, and swimming pools and whittle underwater!

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Ideas for Pumpkin Carving Contests

So what does it take to put on a pumpkin carving contest? First, be sure the judging criteria is clear to contestants. For example, you may want uniqueness to be a special consideration (meaning the typical eyes, nose, and grimace found on many pumpkins will likely not be a winning entry). Or, there may be a specific theme, such as “movies” or “animals.” Need some inspiration? Check out “Creative Pumpkins” on Pinterest.

For those looking for something different, consider alternative decorating ideas like painting pumpkins, adding accessories, or using craft supplies for a no-carve approach.

You might also come up with different categories for your contest. Ideas include:

• Scariest
• Cutest
• Funniest
• Most Creative
• Most Realistic
• Best use of hair (use yarn, string, or other materials to create playful hair on pumpkin characters)

It’s also a good idea to put contestants into brackets (skill level, age, and so on). Be sure to include special categories or activities for kids and little ones to encourage family participation and make the event more inclusive.

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Designing Your Pumpkin Carving Contest Survey

If you’re taking your pumpkin carving contest voting online, there’s no better tool than SurveyLegend. All you need to do is ask contestants to take a high-quality photo of their pumpkin creations and send them to you. For those who prefer decorating with paint instead of carving, painted pumpkins can also be submitted. Then, upload all of the pumpkin images into your survey and share your survey link with others to collect votes. SurveyLegend will automatically tally up the votes in real time, which you can display live on your event page if you like to make the contest more fun and engaging. Ultimately, our free online survey tool will help you determine the pumpkin carving contest winner!

To make your pumpkin carving contests for Halloween, follow this step-by-step guide.

Steps to Creating Your Pumpkin Carving Contest Survey in 10 Easy Steps

1. Log in to your account.
2. Add a new survey, and navigate to the CREATE step.
3. Use our picture-based question type (“Picture Selection”) by clicking on it.
4. Click on the picture selection question that was just added, and then click on the “upload” button.
5. Select all of your pictures at once from your computer, and then hit upload. Wait until the upload process is complete for all images.
6. If you like, change the layout and size of pumpkin pictures using the settings on the left-hand side. You can also choose whichever voting type you prefer. People usually use the “Ranking” voting type and let people vote for their top 3 favorites.
7. Go to the DESIGN step to change the look and feel of your survey (for example, you can choose a dark theme or upload your own background).
8. Go to the CONFIGURE step and give your Halloween contest a good name so that you remember it. Also, make sure you have this setting ON: “Limit number of participations,” which will make sure people cannot vote multiple times to influence results.
9. Finally, continue to the SHARE step, copy your competition link, and send it to your audience using SMS, Email, Facebook, Slack, or whatever platform you like.
10. When the distribution of your best pumpkin for Halloween is done, go to Live Analytics and watch as the results come in.

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

If you’re holding a live event, you can use video projection to broadcast the live analytics page to all attendees. They can watch, in real-time, as the votes roll in. This makes your Halloween competition super fun!

Considering a costume contest and need a voting platform? Check out our blog and survey examples for Halloween costume contests!

Promoting the Event

Getting the word out about your pumpkin carving contest is key to attracting enthusiastic contestants and a lively audience. Start by designing colorful posters and flyers to hang in local hotspots like community centers, libraries, and coffee shops. Take your promotion online by creating a Facebook event, sharing updates on Instagram, or starting a Halloween contest hashtag on Twitter. Reach out to local schools, community groups, and businesses to invite them to participate or even sponsor the event. Make it easy for people to join by setting up an online registration form where contestants can sign up and submit their carved pumpkin photos. Offering early bird discounts or team incentives can help boost participation. Remember to use keywords like “pumpkin carving contest” and “Halloween event” in your online posts to attract more visitors and ensure your event is the talk of the town!

Executing the Pumpkin Contest

When the big day arrives, it’s time to bring your pumpkin carving contest to life! Set up tables and chairs so contestants have plenty of space to carve their pumpkins, and make sure carving tools, candles, and other supplies are ready to go. Create a festive atmosphere with Halloween decorations and music to get everyone in the spirit. Organize a clear and fair voting system—whether it’s a panel of judges or a people’s choice vote, make sure everyone knows how to cast their vote for their favorite jack o’ lantern. Capture the fun by taking lots of photos and videos to share on social media, and don’t forget to celebrate the winners with prizes and awards. Consider giving out small treats or consolation prizes so every contestant feels appreciated. After the event, thank everyone for participating and sharing their creativity, and start thinking about how to make next year’s pumpkin carving contest even better. With a little planning and a lot of fun, your event will be a Halloween tradition everyone will love!

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Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests

Pumpkin Carving Contest with Images

Here’s a look at a pumpkin carving contest survey created using SurveyLegend. Pumpkin images for each contestant were uploaded, and a spooky background and whimsical font were added in the DESIGN stage.

Ready to create your pumpkin carving contest voting form? Start now with SurveyLegend – and have a happy Halloween!

Do you hold pumpkin carving contests? How do you normally select a winner? Will you be using SurveyLegend this Halloween? Let us know in the comments!

Create your FREE
Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contests