The homeowners, Charles White and Julia Miller, had gone away for the weekend and returned Oct. 20 to discover the pumpkins missing. Their 8-year-old son, Devon, and his nanny had been home over the weekend but did not hear any suspicious noise.

Since the more expensive Halloween decorations, including fog machines, were left untouched and only the pumpkins were taken, the family believes that the culprits were a group of kids who stole the pumpkins as a prank.

"Kids think this is funny, but our son is devastated," Miller said.

Devon had spent an hour picking out each of the pumpkins himself, which the family had intended to donate for a class activity on Halloween. The family will purchase more pumpkins for the classroom, said Miller, who estimated the loss to be about $50 total.

White said that if the person or persons who took the pumpkins were to return them and were genuinely apologetic, he would probably accept them with no questions asked.

However, White did have a few words to say to the person responsible: "Next time you do this, think about who you're affecting."

Now White advises his neighbors to leave the lights on during Halloween night, even if they run out of candy to pass out. This will discourage people from committing vandalism or stealing decorations, he said.

Despite memories of 15 to 20 pumpkins all smashed down his street several years ago, White encourages his neighbors to continue participating in the spirit of Halloween rather than to be discouraged by news of vandalism or theft.

"Part of the fun of this neighborhood is that there's decorations everywhere," he said.

White and Miller are asking anyone with information about this incident to call them at 408.395.2981 or Los Gatos police at 408.354.8600.