Now that fall is here, people are preparing their homes and yards with the colors of the seasons and many Americans are opting for professionals to do the dirty and creative work.
“I normally spend over $200 dollars on pumpkins and every time I pull into my driveway — I hate it,” says Jessica Ransom, a mom of two from Charlotte.
This year, Ransom found the “Little Pumpkin Decorators” online and hired them to build a picturesque display on her front porch.
“My kids are older, and they’re really getting into the holidays and Halloween and stuff,” says Ransom, “So I was like, okay, I’m going to really try to make it look as holiday-ish as possible.”
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Pumpkin concierge services are beginning to pop up all over the country, but the trend truly kicked off a few years ago after a Texas pumpkin decorator went viral from posting her work. The owner of Porch Pumpkins, Heather Torres, tells FOX Business her business has grown so much that this year she will decorate more than 1,300 porches in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Porch Pumpkins was an inspiration for co-founder, Christine Davies of Little Pumpkin Decorators. Davies and Ashley Bunn are only in their second season as fall decorators. Two former corporate moms who decided they wanted to be around their kids more, found this calling of porch decorating.
“It’s an outlet for moms, it’s an extra income if you want it to be, and it just brings people joy,” Davies tells FOX Business.
As Americans begin to look at options for decking out their homes with pumpkins and gourds, price could be a factor for some.
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Pumpkin porch decorators could be a couple of hundred dollars to thousands, which is more than the National Retail Federation expected Americans to pay for Halloween decorations last year. According to their numbers, most Americans expected to spend about $53.88 dollars in 2024, but in total Americans expected to spend $11.6 billion. This year, the NRF expects a record-breaking $13.1 billion to be spent on Halloween.
Some homeowners say the cost is worth a pumpkin holiday display.
“It’s so worth the extra money, it’s just a mental load thing to not have to worry about that,” Ransom tells FOX Business.
Little Pumpkin Decorator co-founder Ashley Bunn says they offer different pumpkin packages to help make the displays more affordable to people.
“Maybe they don’t have the passion or desire to do it, and if cost isn’t an issue or is an issue, we can appeal to both.”
Within a few hours, Ransom’s front porch was transformed into an autumn wonderland with garland, bows and dozens of pumpkins of all different sizes.
Little Pumpkin Decorators source their pumpkins from local North Carolina farms. After the season is over, Bunn and Davies go back to each home they designed, take down the display and donate the pumpkins to a local farm for animals to eat.
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California-based holiday entrepreneur Brandon Helfer says he gets requests for porch decorating in July.
“It’s very rare you can decorate your home with something that can last for two holidays,” Helfer tells FOX Business. “Our pricing can range anywhere from $500 to $10,000 dollars.”
Helfer co-owns Mr. Jack O’Lanterns Pumpkins, with locations in California and Florida. Helfer has a pumpkin patch full of family activities and sells wholesale to other designers.
“I do believe our business will go down a little bit on the displays,” Helfer says, “but my increase on people that need to buy the pumpkins are blowing up.”
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Helfer began his business over a decade ago and has become an expert on pumpkins over the years. He says pumpkin displays can last over 5 weeks and will replace pumpkins if they become damaged.
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