It May Be 100 Degrees Outside, But Dallas Is Already Decorating for Halloween

There comes a point every August when North Texans have simply had enough.

Enough triple-digit temperatures, scorched lawns, and getting into a car that feels like a convection oven. And while it may be weeks — possibly months — before anything resembling sweater weather, mentally, North Texans are ready for fall.

We’re hardly alone. Halloween lovers have stretched spooky season so far into summer that “Summerween” is now a thing, while retailers roll out pumpkins and skeletons before the Fourth of July decorations have made it back into storage. Apparently, spooky season no longer waits for an invitation.

Heather Torres gets it. The founder of Porch Pumpkins — known for transforming Dallas front porches with artfully layered displays of pumpkins and gourds — has turned our collective love of fall into a thriving business. Clients choose from four packages ranging in price from $350 to $1,650. Torres and her team take it from there.

And while the first pumpkins won’t hit a Dallas doorstep until late September, the scramble for the best delivery dates is already underway.

From porch decorating, the hobby, to Porch Pumpkins, the business.

Torres had been decorating her own porch since 2013, gradually graduating from what she laughingly remembers as rows of basic orange pumpkins to the layered mix of colors, shapes and specialty varieties that defines her work today. Friends kept asking her to do their houses, too.

After her family moved from East Dallas to Heath in early 2020, Torres started calling around for someone to hang Christmas lights on their new house. When quotes came back as high as $2,500, she began looking at seasonal decorating a little differently.

“I knew what pumpkins cost, and I knew how much work went into it,” she says. “I thought, maybe there really is a market for this.”

She launched Porch Pumpkins thinking she might decorate 30 homes for family and friends. She finished that first season with more than 250. Last year: 1,252 porches across DFW, Houston, and Austin, including 850 in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The demand, much like the displays, kept getting bigger.

What started as a part-time business Torres could build around raising her children has developed a life of its own. Last year, the Dallas operation alone had six drivers and more than 20 designers, many of them creative moms with a serious eye for design who install pumpkins between school drop-off and afternoon carpool.

“They all have that creative itch,” Torres says of her team. “There really is a method to it.”

Torres has even turned her pumpkin know-how into another side of the business, coaching aspiring entrepreneurs around the country — and as far away as Canada.

As the business has grown, so has Dallas’ appetite for a showstopping fall porch. New clients can send Torres a photo of their home and a budget, and she’ll recommend the package that best complements the architecture and existing décor.

“Every home gets its own design,” she says. “We have a recipe, but I can drive down a street in Dallas and immediately tell you if my team did that porch.”

For 2026, Torres is seeing two clear trends: bigger displays and more neutrals. Clients are upgrading to larger packages, while her all-neutral option has far exceeded expectations.

Book Now. Put the Pumpkins Out Later.

Here’s where August matters. While you can order now, the first delivery date is September 24 — for good reason.

Texas weather is brutal on fresh pumpkins. Too much heat and direct sun can cause them to sunburn and shorten their lifespan.

Torres offers a solution for anyone itching to get started. “Bring out the indoor Halloween decorations, but wait until after Labor Day for anything fresh.”

And when the season is over, there’s no need to contemplate what to do with a porch full of gourds. Add pickup service and Porch Pumpkins will take care of that, too. Because Torres doesn’t chemically treat the pumpkins, the company has developed a relationship with Bonton Farms, which puts them to use feeding its pigs and composting.

Not a bad second act. And until September 24? Go ahead and put out the ghosts. The pumpkins have enough sense to wait for cooler weather.