If you’ve been reading our blog you know how much I like Halloween. I mentioned how much I like the decorations, the fun, the costumes, the weather, the spooky things, the silly things, the candy – all of it. Out of all of the more traditional Halloween things, I may like pumpkins the best. Pumpkins always seem to make people happy. I’m not sure if it is the color, shape or just all of the fun feelings that we associate with pumpkins. When fall and Halloween come around, I am always excited to decorate and do fun things with pumpkins. I love to do things beyond carving pumpkins into the basic jack-o-lantern.

I am sure a huge majority of us have been carving pumpkins for Halloween since we were small. We probably have fun childhood memories of slicing the top off of a pumpkin and scooping out the ooey and gooey insides. Many people probably remember picking out the seeds and roasting them. We probably remember how much fun it was to put a candle in that pumpkin on Halloween night. That was so much fun. As I got older I became interested in doing things beyond carving pumpkins. There are lots of fun things to do with pumpkins.

Stickers
Kids love stickers. Stickers are like pumpkins, they just seem to make people happy. Put the two together and you have a super fun activity for kids. You’ll also end up with some really cute pumpkins. It is a fun thing to do with kids who are really young, a fun way to go beyond carving pumpkins.

Vinyl
With all of the new fun things people are doing with cut vinyl, pumpkins were sure to benefit. You can usually find fun precut faces and design kits at craft shops and boutiques.

Paper faces
Another fun activity for the kids involves using construction or scrapbook paper. My kids love making faces and costumes for the pumpkins. This does limit how much outdoor display you can do, but the amount of creativity it allows is fun. This is another fun step beyond carving pumpkins.

Potato Head pieces
This is a super easy one for anyone with Potato Head toys at home. You may need to use a screwdriver to punch the holes in the pumpkins. After you punch the holes, kids can slip the pieces in with ease.

Craft paint
This is a messy option but it can be lots of fun. Kids and adults will like painting fun scenes or faces on pumpkins with craft paint. Once painted, these pumpkins are something you’ll want to keep out of the wet weather. You can spray the painted pumpkins with a coat of clear spray paint to help them be more weather resistant. This is another fun way to go beyond carving pumpkins.
Sharpie markers
I have become such a fan of Sharpie markers in the last few years. We do a lot of fun craft things with them. Using them on pumpkins is really a lot of fun. You can draw fun and detailed things with Sharpies and the pictures stay on the pumpkins quite well.

Spray paint
I’ve seen lots of different things done with spray paint and pumpkins. All of them seem super fun and easy. My favorites are painting the pumpkins with spray paint after the pumpkin was wrapped in lace. Let the paint dry, remove the lace and you have a pretty lace design on your pumpkin. So pretty! I also love painting the pumpkins solid colors. It adds an unexpected pop of color to Halloween décor. This is another of my favorite ways to go beyond carving pumpkins.

Fabric
I’ve seen so many cute pumpkins wrapped with different fabrics. One of my favorite was a burlap wrapped pumpkin. There are so many options for creating a fun look with fabric, kids and adults can have fun.

These are just a few of the ways I’ve had fun going beyond carving pumpkins at Halloween. Do you have any ideas? I’d love to hear them!