Adventures in the Purple Pumpkin Project

We are blessed.  No matter how hard we think our life may be there are always others who have it harder.  Today, my children are healthy.  I know it could change in an instant.  I have two friends who have little ones who are engaged in a battle with epilepsy. I first heard about The Purple Pumpkin Project from one of those friends who is doing a purple pumpkin contest on her blog.  The project was started by a father who wanted to raise awareness of Epilepsy in his town.  The project is quickly gaining popularity and purple pumpkins are popping up in towns all over the  nation. 

Many of you know, that purple is a color we adore in our house so I knew this was a project we could get behind for many reasons.  I also want to take as many chances as I can get to involve my children in any kind of awareness projects.  You are never to young to be aware. 

So we started... we used purple outdoor acrylic paint and real pumpkins.  On the pumpkin I did it took about 3 coats of paint.  The kids were each good with one coat.

 

And yes, I let them paint in good clothes.  I don't know what I was thinking, but we came away with lots of paint on everywhere BUT the clothes, thank goodness!  This shirt is currently CB's favorite!

 

After letting the acrylic dry, we spray painted them with purple Krylon Glitter Blast. 

 

Then we took small wooden letters painted with gold acrylic paint and hot glued them to the pumpkins.  Being the bow queen that I am I added the black and purple bow to my pumpkin.

 

Clara Beth made her pumpkin for my friend Christina's son Nate and Jack made his pumpkin for my friend Liz's daughter Maddie.  I know both the ladies from when we lived at Camp Lejeune years ago. They are both very strong women with very strong little ones.  I admire them so much.  Each have a blog that chronicles their days.  To read more visit the blogs of Christina and Liz.  Liz is running the Marine Corps Marathon and is raising money for CURE Epilepsy (this is a direct link to her fundraising page).

 

The kids had a blast.  I have been working for the past 4, well almost 4, years to instill craftiness in  my children.  They have a healthy respect for glue guns and of course an appreciation for certain colors.  It's a fun ride.  The thing that I hope they take away from these projects is that things they do and create matter.  Whether its doing a project to bring notice to a certain cause or creating a special gift for a special person...the things we do matter.  I encourage you to create your own purple pumpkins!  It's a great conversation piece and one that even the little ones can tell others about.  I would like to note that even with lots of coaching this afternoon, my almost 4 year old failed me when I asked him why we painted the pumpkins purple in front of another person.  He didn't even remember that we painted pumpkins, much less they were purple. Ahhh, oh well...we have them on the table and they are a reminder and maybe, just maybe by the time these are ready to be thrown away he will "get it."  Just another adventurous day in our lives ;)