How To Carve a Pumpkin

Last Halloween Leo was just a tiny dot compared to the monster he is establishing himself as this year. This year he is going to know that something very unusual is going on, something spooky and I am sure that he is going to want to take part.

Leo will be donning a little Halloween costume all of his own, and completing pumpkin carving (hollowing at least), I can just see the mess he is going to make with all of the pumpkin seeds in my minds eye right now, but I can see the fun that he is going to have too!

I always loved Halloween as a child, I loved the thought that anything spooktacular could happen on this one night of the year. I want to make sure Leo finds the magic in Halloween, and enjoys all of the fun that comes with it. I don’t think I will ever outgrow the buzz that comes with Halloween and I must confess, I love to dress up and display a few tricks, I have even discovered that I can carve a mean looking pumpkin.

For Leo’s very first Halloween I bought 4 juicy pumpkins from a local farmer and attempted to carve a ménage of pumpkins to display on the front porch. After hollowing out the first one I was shocked at how much effort went into just one pumpkin, and instantly regretted buying four! I stuck at it though, and eventually had four pumpkins, hollowed out and ready to be carved. I had to work quickly having Leo as a small baby, with time ticking by quickly Leo would soon be wanting his next feed!

My finished pumpkin’s for 2011 consisted of a witch riding on her broomstick, one very spooky looking ghost, a crescent moon and of course you’re traditional Jacko Lantern.

There are so many other designs that you could attempt, I chose the above designs as I am no artist and after discovering just how time consuming carving a pumpkin can be….. I decided to take the easy road!

How to carve your own pumpkin

What you will need to carve your spooky pumpkin?

- A pumpkin (obviously!)

- A small sharp knife

- A marker pen

- A pair of hands (preferably your own)

- A tea light candle

To start the carving process you are going to need a small sharp knife. With the knife you will need to carve around the top of the pumpkin to take the top off. When cutting around the top (later known as the lid), try and cut it so it stays as one piece. You will need this at a later point when putting the finishing touches to your spooktacular pumpkin.

Once you have the lid off you will see just how much guts and seeds are inside. All of this…Well it needs to come out! I found the most effective way to get everything out was to scoop it up with my hands.

With your hollowed out pumpkin ready to go, you can either draw your design on or print a template to draw around on the pumpkin flesh. This is where your marker pen comes into play!

With your design now prominently on the pumpkin you are ready to get carving. Take your knife again and begin to go around the edges of your template. I found that by applying pressure to the area that I was working on made it easier to loosen up the pumpkin flesh, and eventually enabled me to push out the desired section.

With your template now replaced by the desired holes in the pumpkin flesh, the time has come to insert your tea light candle, light it, place the lid back on top and put it out on the front porch for all of your trick or treaters to marvel at!

Happy pumpkin carving everyone and happy Halloween!