Halloween with kids is so much fun. There are so many different aspects and activities to take part in… costumes, candy, decorations, campfires, ghost stories, cool air and hot chocolate. One of our favourite activities is creating our yearly jack-o-lanterns/pumpkin creations. We try to be creative, and we've been successful for the most part, although some years, not so much! Lol!
Here's a look at our creations over the past few years. Enjoy… we hope to inspire you! We would love to see your own special creations in the comments! :)
PRO TIP: The first step is to clean your pumpkins! Wipe the outside, and then get the kids to do the hard work of cleaning out the insides. (Put enough newspaper down first. And save the seeds for baking!)
There are many pumpkin cleaning/carving kits to choose from that come with saws, knives, pokers, scoops etc. to make the job easier and safer than regular kitchen knives.
Happy carving!
1. Superheroes
My son lives and breathes anything Marvel and DC. When he was almost 3, he wanted superhero pumpkins. (Actually, right now he's almost 7 and just asked for a Black Panther pumpkin design… we'll see!). We decided on Spiderman and Batman. The "Bat Logo" was the mouth itself. I loved that part!
2. Pumpkin Snowman (#1)
We were lucky to find a small pumpkin with an awesome long stem. It reminded us of a hat… which brought the thought of a snowman. This was really simple and easy, yet cute and clever. We used a plastic bag as a scarf, and an actual carrot nose! Also, check out our repurposed milk jug ghosts… they completed the "crew" that year.
3. Pumpkin Snowman (#2)
This is this year… as a matter of fact, yesterday! We were lucky that our supermarket had one box of white pumpkins. They're going fast, though… only a few left, as of yesterday. When we saw them we quickly decided on another snowman pumpkin (it's been three years since the last one). For now, we just drew on the face, since it's still early in the month and we don't want a soggy mess by the time Halloween night rolls around.
4. "Boo!"… "Ahhh!"
This was a more traditional year, although still a fun little story. We got a few chuckles out of them :)
5. Arachnophobia
This is the year we tried a little too hard, and it didn't work out exactly as planned. Obviously the theme was "hiding from a spider", but here's where we went wrong. To begin with, we started off with soggy pumpkins. We kept them inside for too long before carving them, and by the time we were ready, they already started getting soft :( As a result, the "lid" of the peeking one wasn't firm enough to be held up with tooth picks. Notice that I ended up using scrap material to hold it up (UGLYYY!). Even trying to stick the hands on was a problem. We ended up having to use pushpins. We probably should have used a marker or paint to draw them on, but at that point, we just wanted a quick fix.
The spider wasn't as bad, but again, because of the sogginess, I didn't want to make too many actual holes to stick the legs in, so again I had to resort to pushpins.
Ah well… it's the thought that counts, right?!
No matter what design you come up with, remember it's all about having fun and creating memories with your little ones.
Comentarios