Would you like to bring home a ghost pumpkin, a Snoopy pumpkin or perhaps a football pumpkin? If none of those suit you, would you consider pumpkins decorated with the theme of a Rubik’s cube, or a box of donuts or a haunted house?

These were some of the options at the decorated pumpkin auction at Thalia Elementary this year.

For 17 years now, art teacher Heather Piccoli has been auctioning off pumpkins to raise money for the United Way of South Hampton Roads. This year’s silent auction raised $400.

“It’s a fun way to raise money for a good cause,” Piccoli said. “When we started, students would bring their pumpkins to school to carve with their parents. They would leave the mess for our Student Council Association students to clean up. Now, teachers decorate the pumpkins with some help from students.”

One teacher had her students use their fingerprints to paint the words, “trick or treat” onto a pumpkin.

The auction takes place during the school’s trunk or treat celebration, which draws hundreds of students, parents and community members every year.  Several teachers dressed up as the witches from “Hocus Pocus.” Other trunk themes included a “Spookbucks” cafe designed after “Starbucks,” a walkway inspired by the Candy Land board game and a mad scientist lab complete with floating bubbles. The event is sponsored by the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

There’s also a Family Engagement Title 1 math and science fair inside the cafeteria, including Mad Science presentations supported by a grant from the Virginia Beach Education Foundation.

The city’s police and fire departments don’t miss out on the fun, said principal Nicole Keros. Firefighters passed out candy, and a police car was decked out with inflatable green aliens.

“We bring out our community partners to share in the excitement of learning and having fun,” Keros said. “It really brings the community together.”