This is Part One of a 5-part Halloween series, inspired by our annual tradition of carving pumpkins.
In this Halloween series, you’ll find:
Some of the best pumpkin carving tips you’ve ever seen
Lots of FREE templates that you can download
Unique pumpkin carving ideas to make yours stand out from others on the block
Carving techniques & how-to’s to get the job done fast and easy
Ideas for adding light inside your pumpkin
How to prolong the life of your pumpkin
Spooky recipes & sweet treats (including fun haunted house party ideas)
How to take Halloween pictures (tips for photographing lit pumpkins, as well as costumed trick-or-treaters)
Pumpkin Carving 101
Part 1: Pre-Halloween… Gathering Ideas Early
Unique Pumpkin Carving Ideas
Here are some of the most creative (yet simple!) pumpkin carvings we’ve seen lately. We even plan to try out a few of these ourselves this year… especially decorating pumpkin gourds & setting them on the house steps.
For some unusual pumpkin carving ideas including a clever trick for carving a pumpkin on its side and displaying it sideways .. very cute!
A step-by-step tutorial for making your own patterns. Learn how to turn any picture, clipart, or coloring book page into a pumpkin carving masterpiece! (Warning: It’s slightly technical, but interesting nonetheless.)
Free Pumpkin Carving Patterns To Download
We prefer to carve designs that are of traditional Halloween-related objects, but we kick them up a notch by making them more 3D or more detailed with shading or something. If you’re interested in how we do it, check out these pumpkin pictures of jack-o-lanterns we’ve carved in the past.
We used the following pumpkin carving templates from HMS Mfg. Company: Bats, Haunted House, Ghost, and Witch. Look for them in your favorite store! (You can see where we cut out all the “black” parts of the design, and we used a Sharpie marker to trace the design onto the pumpkins.)
Here’s a Jeep template we created ourselves!
Here is the most inclusive FREE pumpkin carving template site out there! (You’ll notice that some of the templates are “for members only”, just skip over those to check out all of the great free ones first.)
For a simple, yet very personalized pumpkin face, use one of these pumpkin carving templates to create your own personal Jack-o-lantern template.
There are many more free templates out there to choose from (but you’ll have to weed through a lot that aren’t so free to find them!) You’re best bet would be to search in Google for EXACTLY what you’re looking for, such as “flag pumpkin template” or “scooby doo pumpkin” or “spongebob pumpkin”… you get the idea.
Here’s how to choose the perfect pumpkin for carving:
Part 2: Pumpkin Carving Tips & Decorating Ideas
If there is ONE thing I like… it's C H A N G E! The four seasons and major holidays are my favorite times of the year to recharge — and redecorate. I mostly like to share frugal DIY ideas for seasonal home decorating and party planning (for both, indoors and outside). Because who doesn't enjoy entertaining at home?! But even if you don't host many parties, I think you'll appreciate my DIY hacks and clever ways to decorate your house for the major holidays including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Because those are the times when people tend to have the most visitors and overnight houseguests.
