31,000 sign up to pumpkin trail as Sunderland woman sets up safe replacement for trick-or-treating ahead of Halloween

Juliette Matthews, three, enjoys being part of The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail.

Fiona Simpson, who runs Artventurers, has unveiled The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail and more than 31,000 people have already signed up.

The idea involves people creating pumpkins to put in their windows. Children can go out and spot as many pumpkins as possible in their neighbourhood.

The plan comes from Fiona who has already had huge successes during lockdown with her plans to get people being creative.

Fiona Simpson of Artventurers pictured as she won a Wearside Women in Business Award last year.

She created ‘The Big Neighbourhood VE Day 75 Family Festival at Home’ which saw people make their own VE decorations and props in time for the anniversary in May.

Earlier in the lockdown, Artventurers, which has franchises all over the country including most parts of the North East, encouraged people to make Easter egg-shaped decorations.

The Big Neighbourhood Easter Egg Hunt attracted the support of hundreds of people all over the country.

Now comes the The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail and Fiona said: “It was an idea that I had to try and make sure that children can still enjoy Halloween safely when trick-or-treating as we know it will be off the cards this year.

The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail! organised by Sunderland entrepreneur Fiona Simpson has already attracted more than 31,000 members.

“We are asking everyone to put pumpkins in their windows ...painted, real ones, plastic...whatever.

“We have a printable pumpkin template people can use if they want or they can just do their own. And on Halloween weekend, children can go out and about in their local neighbourhoods and see how many pumpkins they can spot. So it's like a massive pumpkin trail!”

To find out more, visit the The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail! page on Facebook.

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'The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail' - 31,000 sign-up to Sunderland businesswoman's safe Halloween project as trick-or-treating looks set to be off

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.