I want to prepare...

[Cool Foot Luke]

...pumpkin soup served in a pumpkin, and serve it to my co-workers at our Thanksgiving potluck tomorrow. Anyone have any advice for me? Definitely not going the individual pumpkin route, because that would involve way too much work. I'm a little bit concerned that my pumpkin won't be able to support the weight of the soup and will collapse into a sad orange mess.

This is one possible recipe:
http://www.dinnerwithjulia.com/2009/10/julia-childs-pumpkin-soup-in-pumpkin.html

though I'm not quite sure how the cubes of bread would work inside a soup...would the result be very thick and stew-like?

There's also this recipe:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art5460.asp

but it sounds like the pumpkin is just a shell to hold the soup and not an integral part of the soup itself.

Any other thoughts?

[mango]

Here's another one from Pioneer Woman: Pumpkin soup

[triciaflower]

If you are afraid of the integrity of the pumpkin, how about putting a big pot inside the pumpkin to hold the soup?

[Cool Foot Luke]

If you are afraid of the integrity of the pumpkin, how about putting a big pot inside the pumpkin to hold the soup?

Because I'd like for the pumpkin to be part of the soup, i.e. scaping the sides a little bit to get pumpkin flesh.

But, this all turned out to be moot, because my beloved grocery store only had 4-pound pumpkins, rather than the larger ones I'd need to feed a crowd. And no, I'm not doing individual pumpkin bowls,  not for co-workers!

[onawhim]

This is a very risky potluck dish.  You made the right choice. 

[Cool Foot Luke]

This is a very risky potluck dish.  You made the right choice. 

Risky?
I guess I'm pretty fearless...I fed these folks beet cookies on Valentine's Day.

I ended up just making the soup in a pot. So I suppose I could have placed the pot inside an inedible pumpkin (though the grocery store didn't have those, either). It tasted pretty good this morning.

[onawhim]

I mean because of pumpkin integrity.   It would never stand up to transport I bet.  I went to a thanksgiving dinner party once where a giant pumpkin containing soup exploded 

[Cool Foot Luke]

I made the second soup, served in a pot. It was a hit.

I changed the recipe a bit - added an apple and an extra can of pumpkin (to compensate for not being served in a pumpkin), and used one 32 oz container of veggie stock instead of three 14 oz cans. Used fat-free evaporated milk, skipped the extra butter towards the end (and I could have probably cut the amount of initial saute butter more), doubled all spices and added basil.

I made it this morning and kept it warm in a 200 degree oven until serving. Drizzled a bit of creme fraiche and scattered a few pumpkin seeds on top.

The end product was a thick soup that had a very creamy texture, despite being relatively low in fat:

 Calories    134.1
  Total Fat    4.7 g
         Saturated Fat    2.9 g
         Polyunsaturated Fat    0.2 g
         Monounsaturated Fat    1.2 g
  Cholesterol    13.1 mg
  Sodium    431.9 mg
  Potassium    424.5 mg
  Total Carbohydrate    19.0 g
         Dietary Fiber    3.7 g
         Sugars    10.0 g
  Protein    5.4 g
  Vitamin A    263.9 %
  Vitamin B-12    2.2 %
  Vitamin B-6    6.7 %
  Vitamin C    13.7 %
  Vitamin D    9.2 %
  Vitamin E    5.4 %
  Calcium    18.0 %
  Copper    6.5 %
  Folate    6.2 %
  Iron    8.6 %
  Magnesium    9.3 %
  Manganese    9.9 %
  Niacin    2.4 %
  Pantothenic Acid        7.3 %
  Phosphorus        14.2 %
  Riboflavin    11.7 %
  Selenium    3.2 %
  Thiamin    4.3 %
  Zinc    4.5 %

Used this recipe calculator: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp. Practically health food, especially since the source of the sugar is onions, apples, and pumpkin...