How to carve a pumpkin and inspiring spooky designs to try out this Halloween
Date: 2024-10-30
No Halloween is complete without a carved pumpkin adorning your home.
But once you’ve seen one ‘triangle eyes and scary mouth’ combo, you’ve seen them all, right?
Ready to get your creative juices flowing?
There are lots of ways to jazz up the traditional Jack O’ Lantern, from intricate museum-worthy masterpieces, to options that are more cute than creepy.
Unusual pumpkin carving ideas are easy to find online – and we’ve been scouring the internet for the best.
Here are our picks of the best alternative pumpkin designs for Halloween 2024.
How to carve your pumpkin safely
Before you start creating your designs, here’s how to get the detail you want – without losing a finger.
- First things first, get the right equipment. Tools used for clay sculpting are a great way to get detail onto your pumpkin. A large loop tool is ideal for carving out the insides and peeling away the rind, while smaller loop tools are for finer details. A needle tool is good for tracing out an outline if you want to create holes in your pumpkin. A small serrated knife can be used to cut out the top or bottom of the pumpkin as well as other holes as it acts more like a saw rather than the slicing action of a cooks knife.
- To make sure you carve out the flesh of your pumpkin safely, trace out your design with your needle tool before using the serrated knife to actually cut.
- Use the other tools to carve out any details and the large loop to scrape away pumpkin skin if you want to create a design where the light will shine through a thin layer of pumpkin flesh.
- When cutting out the lid, make sure you do so at an angle so that it can be placed back on top without falling through.
- All the other bits should be carved out nice and straight to ensure a clean finish.
- And remember, while many like to carve a pumpkin with children a child should never be left alone with knives or sharp carving tools.
Fun Pumpkin carving designs for Halloween 2024
Here are some of our favourite designs…
VW Camper Van
If you prefer a groovy aesthetic, look no further than this VW camper van pumpkin. The details are truly spectacular.
Pumpkin face off
Add a little extra excitement to your pumpkin by adding eyeballs and a mini skeleton.
To create this, carve the face first and cut it out of the pumpkin. Then leave some of the pulp on the inside for extra gore.
Flower power
If you prefer something non-frightening, why not try some flower power?
This sunflower style pumpkin carving is most definitely a chic and aesthetically pleasing alternative.
Say hello to our little friend
If you have some mini pumpkins lying around, why not make them their own pumpkin house?
With a window and little door, introduce your guests to the smallest (and cutest) pumpkin around.
Minion pumpkin
If there happens to be a Despicable Me fan in your household, turn your pumpkin into a Minion.
There’s a fair bit of work involved in the creation of this but if you have the artistic ability, go for it and please, send us a picture.
Make them and scare them
Carve a classic pumpkin but add a terrifying twist.
To really scare those trick or treaters, design a traditional face but glue some twine in a criss-cross design to make a pumpkin scarecrow.
Put them in jail
Want to make people laugh with your pumpkin carving?
Well, why not put two little skeletons behind bars. Simple to make, just carve out a rectangle shape and use some lollipop sticks for the bars. What a scream!
This article was originally published on October 31, 2023.
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