As many of you know, my husband Jamie is obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin (read more about it in Sordid Secrets and the Husbands Who Keep Them) and I have an entire category about pumpkins on my personal blog.
Before you place judgement about what I’m going to tell you, let me assure you that the Great Pumpkin brings a lot of joy to child and adults. It was the star attraction at Volunteers of America’s Halloween Party and it also made appearances to the special education kids at our high school and our own children’s elementary school. Our fourth grade son proudly made a speech about his growing efforts while our sixth grade daughter hunked down, pretending not to know us.
I wore my embarrassing pumpkin glasses just for her.
Our evil plan was hatched quite by accident last year when 9News Reporter TaRhonda Thomas interviewed my husband a.k.a. The Pumpkin Man. As a fun kicker at the end of the story, she decided to climb inside the 1,292-pound beast.
Though Jamie has been growing giant pumpkins for years, it’s the first time anyone ever climbed into it and Jamie shared an idea with me.
“I could do that.”
“What? Climb into the pumpkin in high heels?”
“No, I could hide inside the pumpkin and scare people on Halloween.”
When you grow The Giant Pumpkin, your house becomes a popular stop on Halloween but I was doubtful about turning it into a Little Shop of Horrors Giant Gourd of Horrors.
Undeterred, Jamie made assignments. My role was the cannibalistic witch in Hansel and Gretel as I lured our innocent victims with “do you want a picture with the pumpkin?” We recruited our friend Jared as the photographer while his wife Jenny handed out candy and gave the cue for Jamie to jump out.
The result? Hilarious.
We tried to pick on people we knew or older kids. What surprised me was just how many non-reactions there were because I can assure you I would have raced down the block kicking and screaming if he’d have jumped out at me. I mean, just look at the creeper posed inside the pumpkin prepared to launch.
Only the best reactions made it onto video so be sure to take a minute and watch it below or here:
The bunny and the man at the end were my favorites. 🙂 Many adults told us it was the highlight of the night and we had only one child who cried but his parents assured us little “Spider-Man” would recover quickly. He is, after all, a superhero. The next day, Jamie was not only sore from crouching down all night but badly bruised from jumping out.
But it was worth it and he brushed it off as “The sacrifices I make for my art.” If jumping out of a giant pumpkin is art, The Pumpkin Man is, indeed, an artist.
Are you following Mile High Mamas on our new Instagram account instagram.com/themilehighmamas. Be sure to tag us #milehighmamas and #DenverKids and we’ll share your cuties!
Sam
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Amber
Sam–Full disclosure: it ain’t always pretty. 🙂
Michelle
How funny. That is something those families will never forget.