OMG Pumpkin Carving Contest

Carter and Olivia were contemplating how we could raise awareness to such issues as Plastic Pollution during this Halloween season.  Their goal is to help everyone realize how much candy (wrapped in plastic) is consumed and to provide alternatives in an effort to help reduce plastic trash.  As they were discussing their options, Olivia came up with the idea that we should launch a Pumpkin Carving Contest, so here it is.
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This year we are asking folks to consider carving their pumpkins a little differently.  We are looking for the best carved pumpkin that includes a cool message about making a difference.  Your message could simply say “Please help save endangered species” or “Please Recycle” or “Say No To Plastic This Halloween“… whatever works for you.  We are just looking for pumpkins that will help you tell your neighborhood how you feel.  And to make it easier on our younger fans, we are also accepting pumpkins which merely have a picture or message drawn on them.  We obviously would love to see our OMG Logo carved, written, or even drawn on the pumpkin but that is not a requirement.

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We are looking for the most creative carving/drawing.  The contest is open from now until Halloween and OMG founders Carter and Olivia will choose their top 5 favorites, which will be posted on our FaceBook page where all our FaceBook fans will be asked to vote for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.  Each of the top 5 will receive a special OMG prize.

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We ask that you send/email us a picture of your carving and please include your name and a mailing address.  We will post ALL pictures sent into us at the bottom of this page and on our social media outlets so put your thinking caps on and start carving.  Here is a link where you can get some free stencil patterns: Animals Pumpkin Carving Pattern Stencils

BTW, for carving pumpkins, don’t forget to ‘recycle’ the pumpkin afterwards for compost. The seeds are pretty good, too if you toast them. Our good friend Carmen Guerrero told us her dad does that when she carves pumpkins for Halloween.

Now here is some interesting information about candy consumption and the amount of plastic pollution it creates each Halloween.

Candy is everywhere during Halloween season. It is stacked for weeks in ceiling-high piles at the supermarket. It is pooled in giant bowls on people’s desks at work.Teachers hand it out at school. On Halloween night, homeowners everywhere load it by the handful into trick-or-treaters’ pumpkin buckets. And even after the big night itself, it is sold in discount bins throughout the land..

According to Susan Whiteside, vice president of communications at the National Confectioner’s Association (NCA), confectionery sales for Halloween 2011 in the United States exceeded $2.3 billion — a new record.  Indeed, despite these hard economic times, Halloween candy sales continue to rise by 1 to 3 percent each year.

 

Here are some interesting Halloween Candy consumption facts:

On the average, approximately 598 million pounds or $1.9 billions worth of candy is sold during the Halloween season. Nearly 90 million pounds of the candy sold during Halloween week is chocolate. 35 million pounds of candy corn are sold every year — that’s 27 candy corns for each and every American.

That means that over 473 million pounds of individually wrapped candy is sold for Halloween and most is wrapped in some sort of plastic that will never be recycled.  Some companies use viscose to make cellophane. The initial manufacturing process for cellophane is similar to rayon, but different end procedures are used to make a stable, mostly clear, lightweight product. Common uses of such cellophane include kitchen wrap and clear sheets used to wrap plants, gift baskets, and other projects. Other companies also use it to make certain types of semi-clear adhesive tape.

There are 36 million children in the prime of their trick-or-treating careers in the United States. (Between the ages of 5 and 13).  Most U.S. children consume between 3500 and 7000 calories from candy on Halloween.  The average Jack-O-Lantern bucket holds about 250 pieces of candy amounting to about 9,000 calories and about three pounds of sugar, according to the California Milk Processors Board.

This is a lot. A 100-pound child who eats 7,000 calories worth of candy would have to walk for almost 44 hours or play full-court basketball for 14.5 hours to burn those calories, Dr. Donna Arnett, chair of the Department of Epidemiology in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Public Health, told CNN.

The average American will drop $7.36 on Halloween candy this year.  How much are you spending?  Here is a post we found which offers alternatives to handing out ‘Plastic Wrapped’ candy which includes ideas such as ‘Fruit Snacks’, ‘Nuts’ and even cool ‘Non-Edible’ items:

More Green Halloween Tips from Green Living Ideas

Additionally, here is a great alternative sent in to us by one of our OMG fans Carmen G., who is in our opinion taking charge of the situation and actually going to be making a huge difference.  Carmen is planning to give out OMG cards in the candy bags on Halloween. They would be printed on recycled paper, have some tips on how to save plastic, and mention another one of our current campaigns, the Rhino Letter Writing Campaign to President Zuma.

According to Carmen, the last couple of years she got plenty of trick or treaters at their house. “If we get as many this year, maybe some might write letters, and look up more ways to save plastic“.

We absolutely love the idea and invite everyone to come up with their own way to make a difference this Halloween. And as Carter said after learning about Carmen’s idea… “Simply Brilliant“.

We hope you find the information helpful and that you too will send us a picture of your unique pumpkin carvings.  And for those of you who are trying to only buy halloween candy that is made by companies that are members of the RSPO (Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil) and are committed to using certified sustainable palm oil. Please support on the companies from the list below who are doing their best to make a difference for orangutans.

Orangutan Friendly Sustainable Palm Oil Halloween Candy List

And finally, here is a great article Is your Halloween candy linked to rainforest destruction?

Thanks for caring from all of us at OMG 😉