Are blue pumpkins real? We grew one (and what a blue pumpkin means at Halloween)

When we wrote the Halloween Pumpkins Song, one verse made people raise an eyebrow. Orange pumpkins, yes. White ones, fine. Green, maybe. But blue pumpkins?

So here is our proof, straight from our allotment.

Yes, blue pumpkins are real

Ours grew on a long, hairy vine and spent the summer sprawled across the path. Its skin is a soft, chalky blue-grey, nothing like the bright orange pumpkins in the supermarket.

A quick look at our blue pumpkins on the allotment.

Blue pumpkins are not a trick of the light, and they are not new. The Royal Horticultural Society lists Crown Prince as one of the long-standing favourites, with blue-grey fruit, tough skin, orange flesh and a nutty flavour, and says it can be stored for up to six months. Ours looks very much like a Crown Prince.

There are other blue varieties too. Jarrahdale and Queensland Blue come from Australia, and newer types such as Blue Doll and Blue Moon have been bred since. Many of them are grown as much for eating as for decoration.

Blue outside, orange inside

Here is the bit little ones love: cut a blue pumpkin open and it is bright orange inside. Seed catalogues describe Crown Prince the same way, with grey-blue skin and sweet orange flesh that is lovely roasted.

That makes it a perfect “guess what’s inside?” moment. Show your child the blue pumpkin, ask what colour they think it will be inside, then open it together.

A blue pumpkin can mean something else at Halloween

If you see a child carrying a blue trick-or-treat bucket, it may be a quiet message. Blue buckets became linked with autism after a mother shared a post in 2018 explaining that her autistic son would be carrying one. The idea is that a child with a blue bucket might not be able to say “trick or treat”, but would still love to join in.

Not everyone uses or likes the blue bucket. Some parents and autism advocates feel children shouldn’t have to signal a diagnosis to a stranger to be treated kindly. The simplest takeaway works either way: if a child doesn’t say “trick or treat”, smile and offer the treat anyway.

Teal pumpkins mean something too. The Teal Pumpkin Project, run by the charity Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), encourages households to offer non-food treats such as stickers, crayons or glow sticks, so children with food allergies can join in safely. A teal pumpkin on a doorstep means those treats are available. Some families also use purple pumpkins to raise awareness of epilepsy.

Keeping a small bowl of stickers next to the sweets is an easy way to make your door welcoming for everyone.

A not-scary Halloween for little ones

Our song starts with a small, honest voice: “I don’t like it, it’s scary.” Plenty of toddlers feel exactly that about Halloween. A few gentle ideas that work well for us:

• Start in daylight. A pumpkin hunt at a farm, a market or the allotment is Halloween without the dark.
• Let them touch it. Feel the bumpy skin, find the stalk, and guess the colour inside.
• Scoop, don’t carve. Little hands can scoop out seeds with a spoon while a grown-up does the knife work.
• Name the feeling. “It’s a bit scary” is fine to say out loud. Then try “Don’t worry, it’s fine!”, just like in the song.
• Skip the jump scares. Soft lights and quiet music are plenty for under-fives.
• Roast the seeds together and taste the result.

Sing along

The Halloween Pumpkins Song follows the pumpkins from seed to glowing lantern, with a verse for every colour, including blue. Try a pat, pat, clap, clap, clap on every “pumpkins”. By the end, the scared voice has changed its mind: “I like it now, it’s not scary!”

Grew a blue pumpkin of your own? Show us on Instagram or Facebook. We’d love to see it.

References

1. Royal Horticultural Society. Pick your pumpkin: the best to grow for eating and carving. rhs.org.uk
2. Marshalls Garden. Pumpkin ‘Crown Prince’. marshallsgarden.com
3. Home for the Harvest. Blue pumpkins: 20+ varieties. homefortheharvest.com
4. Axios (28 October 2024). Teal pumpkins and blue buckets are more than Halloween decor. axios.com
5. Yorkshire Evening Post. Blue and teal pumpkin buckets: what the colours mean for those with autism and allergies on Halloween. yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk
6. WTVR. What are the Teal, Blue Pumpkin Projects? wtvr.com

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