Pumpkin Pie. A family favourite thanks to grandma’s talent in the kitchen and my grandpa’s creative solution in transporting goods to market…goods being the pies and market being us, his family. This creative solution consisted of a five gallon bucket and a stack of wooden circles spaced accordingly to allow each pie to sit on it’s own without getting crushed from the pie above. It was the pie pail and it quickly became a staple at our family dinners.
This past summer, my husband was able to make a template of grandpa’s original pie pail. It took him some trial and error. Finding the right sized buckets that would hold a large pie plate, getting the dowels just right for the spacing and cutting numerous wooden circles to fit just right.
I took the lead on design and sprayed each pail with a flat black paint (to cover up the store logo) and then sourced a local sign shop to adhere my grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe in a fun white font, creating a chalkboard look. To finish it off, I glued on jute ribbon and tied on a cute label.
We ended up making three buckets. One for my sister’s family, one for my brother’s family and one for ourselves. I couldn’t be more thrilled with how they turned out and was beyond excited to give them as gifts. The best part for me was having my grandma sign each pail with her name.
The pie pail will continue for our family. A tradition my grandpa started, without even meaning to, only because he wanted to help my grandma get her pumpkin pies to our family dinners. I can’t say for sure but if I had to guess, I would say he’s smiling down on us and our pie pails.
