800response Celebrates Halloween with a Fundraiser

Every Halloween, companies host costume contests and other festive events to boost morale in the office. Each year, 800response takes that idea further and celebrates Halloween with a fundraiser. The 2018 Halloween festivities were a part of our ongoing campaign for The United Way of Northwest Vermont. The campaign organizers worked hard to create Halloween-themed contests to raise money for the event, including a costume contest, pumpkin carving contest, pumpkin bowling, and more. Here’s a recap of this year’s Halloween festivity for charity.

Showcasing Creativity with Costumes

There’s certainly no shortage of creative minds at 800response, and that was evident during the penultimate costume contest. While voting during this particular event didn’t require a donation, it was a lot of fun to see those creative minds in action. Client Engagement Specialist, Mariann Carlson won the contest with her DIY witch costume, complete with a handmade paper mache mask. Here’s a little tip from our winner: gluten-free flour does not a paper mache mask make!

Coming in at a close second was Marketing Assistant, Morgan Pulitzer with her 50 Shades of Grey costume. And of course our Digital Marketing Specialist employed her writing skills for her pun on Morgan’s costume, 50 Grades of Maize. In fact, “punny” costumes seem to be en vouge, as you can see with the Hawaiian Punch and Chip on the Shoulder costumes. Thanks to everyone who participated, and we can’t wait to see what people come up with next year!

Play with Your Food!

Pumpkin bowling put an entirely different spin (pun intended) on playing with your food. Players donated a dollar to play 5 frames of this candlestick bowling and bocce mashup. As you can imagine, bowling with an object that has the properties of a lumpy tennis ball required a little skill and a lot of luck.

The lucky winner was Cliff LaCoursiere, VP of our sister company, CallFinder, with a total of 44 points. 800response VP of Sales & Marketing, Laura Noonan (pictured above) also brought her A game with a total of 35 points. Perhaps this is proof that a little healthy competition can contribute to the greater good.

Play with Your Food Some More!

The pumpkin carving contest seemed to solicit the most laughs (and money for that matter). Employees were encouraged to submit a pumpkin Monday through Wednesday, each day with a new entry. The final entries are pictured below.

Once the pumpkins were entered, employees voted by placing money in the cup next to the pumpkin they wanted to win. While pumpkin #1, the first entry (on the far left), took the gold, the cat pumpkin scooped up the silver with its witty response to the mouse pumpkin submitted the day before. The toy mouse put the finishing touch on this playful pummpkin. This contest raised the most money out of all the Halloween events.

It’s Anyone’s Guess

The final event got the most surprising results. Employees were asked to guess how many candy bars were in this Frankenstein jar. Guesses were $25 each, with an unlimited number of guesses. How many candy bars do you think are in this jar?

The closest employee guess was 80, but that was only one off from the actual total of 81! While the Halloween celebration raised over $250, these events are only a small portion of all the charitable activities throughout the year. Our United Way Campaign runs through the end of December, and it’s anyone’s guess how much we’ll raise by the end of the year.

Stay tuned for updates on our United Way Campaign in the next couple of months. In the meantime, we hope you had a spectacular Halloween full of loot, candy or otherwise. Don’t forget to subscribe to the 800response blog for all the latest industry and company news.