This was a big transition year for our annual Halloween fundraiser. We switched from Halloween Town to HalloweenFest, which was held this past weekend in conjunction with PRU BOO, an annual trick or treating event at The Shops at the Prudential Center.

Joanna and Jessica on the cause marketing team added all sorts of fun activities for families that made the event more enjoyable for shoppers, and initial feedback from retailers in the mall point to happier tenents and more traffic–just what the mall marketing team wanted.

The event wouldn’t have been a success without our great sponsors!

iParty was the presenting sponsor of HalloweenFest and entertained kids with their experiments in the Birthday Lab

Pumpkin decorating is consistently our #1 kid-approved activity

We had 20 costumed characters to entertain the kids at HalloweenFest

A big thanks to all our volunteers, especially those from Northeastern University (and a special, special thanks to students form the pharmacy program at NU)

A big part of the promoton and fundraising for HalloweenFest is our annual pinup program with iParty stores. They’ve been dressing up kids for Halloween for years and this is their busiest time of year. Nonetheless, they take time out of their hectic work to raise money for The Kid’s Fund right through this weekend.

The HalloweenFest pinup is sold for $1 in iParty stores thoughout New England until November 1st

Hanging out at the Pru all weekend a couple of other point-of-sale cause marketing programs caught my attention. The one below with Dunkin Donuts was interesting. I had never seen them do point-of-sale before!

This pinup program at Dunkin Donuts benefited the Alzheimer's Association

These helmets mobiles were displayed on four large glass windows at the Shaw's Supermarket across the street from the Pru. Stores with lots of locations and lots of foot traffic, like supermarkets, are perfect for pinups!

This pinup benefited Feeding America and was done in partnership with the New England Patriorts.

While we’re still searching for the perfect cause marketing formula for success in October, I’m confident that Halloween is a great holiday for us and cause marketers in general. With revenue expected to bouce back to nearly $6 billion this year, Halloween is second only to the holiday season in consumer spending.

Check out this post I wrote in 2008 that hightlights the reasons not to be afraid of Halloween cause marketing. Here’s the summary:

Consumer Holidays + Retailers = Great Cause Marketing

Celebrate Halloween this year by making plans for your own Halloween cause marketing promotion for 2011.

Also, if your nonprofit or business is hosting a Halloween fundraiser this year I’d love to hear about it!