This Texas Mom Charges Over $1,000 for Her Elaborate Pumpkin Displays Each Year — See Her Stunning Designs!
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10/04/2024 03:08 PM
Heather Torres, the founder of Porch Pumpkins, started out by fulfilling 250 orders when she first launched her business in 2020, to 1,037 orders in 2024
Porch Pumpkins/Instagram
Porch Pumpkins founder Heather Torres (left) and one of her porch designs (right)This Texas mom turned her passion for pumpkins into a thousand-dollar business!
Heather Torres, the founder of Porch Pumpkins, opened up about her flourishing porch-scaping business in which she designs and sets up elaborate pumpkin displays outside of people's homes while appearing onThe Koerner Office podcast with Chris Koerner.
During the interview, released on Wednesday, Oct. 2, Torres explains how it all started when she saw her friends paying thousands of dollars to have Christmas decorations installed at their homes.
Since she already had experience decorating her own home with pumpkins each fall, Torres decided to take the leap in 2020 and launch her small business that has since rapidly grown thanks to her hard work and team of designers and delivery drivers.
Related: What Do Teal Pumpkins and Blue Buckets Mean for Trick-or-Treaters on Halloween?
Porch Pumpkins/Instagram
Another one of Porch Pumpkins' stunning displays"My first year in business I expected to design 30 porches, we did 250 in 2020! This year we will provide 1037 pumpkin displays to Porch Pumpkins clients in the Dallas Fort Worth area and Houston," Torres tells PEOPLE. "We look forward to continuing our growth and will add Austin in 2026!"
The packages offered on her official website include smaller displays and larger displays, with prices ranging between $325 to $1,350. However, she is officially sold out for the 2024 season.
During the interview, Torres references one of her viral Instagram videos shared on Sept. 26 that shows her sprinting to a house to complete an order. She explains to Koerner that she did 21 designs out of the 50 orders they had that day all by herself.
"That's a $10,000 dollar day," the host says, to which she agrees with a smile.
Porch Pumpkins also offers clean-up and removal services that can be arranged either before or after Thanksgiving. Torres says about 65% to 70% of her customers opt for this arrangement. She ends up donating all of the pumpkins she gets back as food for farm animals, and the straw from the hay is donated to a local farm as well.
Torres, who is based outside of Dallas in the Rockwall area, makes deliveries across six zip codes all over Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.
Related: Pumpkins on Parade! This West Virginia House Displays 3,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns Every Halloween
Chris Koerner/Instagram
Heather Torres and Chris KoernerShe also offered some insight into the branding and name behind her business, which Koerner then tells her she "literally invented an industry" of luxury pumpkin displays.
"What inspired the name is, I have been decorating with pumpkins for a long time. In 2013 when I stayed at home with my oldest son, he was a little 7-month-old, I went crazy with pumpkins," she explains.
She eventually became an expert in caring for pumpkin decorations and how to make them last as long as possible.
"I used to put them in my landscaping and what I learned is, if you put pumpkins in landscaping they will rot faster than if you put them on a porch. I knew this because I've had years and years of decorating my home. So I knew that I wanted it to be very clear that we would be putting pumpkins on your porch so they will last longer," she adds, which is how the name Porch Pumpkins was born.
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While people reach out to her now and approach her with business opportunities, she explains that she first used word of mouth marketing among her friends before it landed in a "few fun hands."
Someone with 80,000 followers then posted about the venture on their Instagram account, she says, which is when her phone then started "dinging" with requests from complete strangers who wanted Porch Pumpkins at their own home.
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