17 Things To Help You Carve The Best Pumpkin Of Your Life
Creating a gourd-geous masterpiece (no matter your skill level) is going to be so much easier.
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1. A small disposable tarp to help you feel free to get as messy as you want (there will be pumpkin guts!) while working on your masterpiece.
Get a two-pack of 6x9 tarps from Amazon for $5.99.
Or if you hate disposable stuff (understood!) this sturdy, cheap tarp will be useful for lots of other future tasks. Psst, if it's time to switch out your shower liner, you could also use that as a tarp before you're ready to toss it. I've done that before!
2. If you're feeling super confident, a foam pumpkin made for carving to help you keep your masterpiece around for years. Plus, this one costs about as much as you'd pay for the real deal at a farm stand (perhaps even less).
BTW, this is the cheapest I've ever seen a carveable foam pumpkin. In my experience they're normally at least $15 a pop!
Get it from Target for $5.99.
3. A book of 60 carving patterns in case your creative well is running a bit dry or you'd like to rely on someone else's creativity.
Promising review: "Great patterns, easy to use from the youngest to the oldest in the family. There are many patterns to choose from — very detailed to easy. The only thing I do not like is that there is a pattern on both sides of one page so when you do one pattern you lose the pattern on the other side." —Amber
Get it from Amazon for $5.99.
4. Or a customized downloadable PDF pattern tailored to your name (or perhaps a message like "Marry Me") for a curbside creation personal to you.
CrisMichaelsCreation is a Berwick, Pennsylvania-based selling a variety of vintage items, gifts, and customized items.
Promising review: "Pattern looked great! File was sent super fast!!!" —Leslie Miller
Get it from CrisMichaelsCreation on Etsy for $10+ (available in a variety of letter lengths and styles).
5. OR a book about carving some realistic face pumpkins if you're going for extra credit. Truly, they're so creepy!
Promising review: "Great book. Lots of good info, tricks and patterns. I am an artist but have never carved before. With the help of this book I was able to learn a lot in a short time. This was my first carving." —John P. Jordan
Get it from Amazon for $11.69.
6. A KitchenIQ sharpener that'll handle dull kitchen knives (I can speak from personal experience) and get them in shape for some pumpkin carving in case you've been foiled too many times in the past by pumpkin-carving tools.
I own this beaut and it's transformed my hand-me-down kitchen knives. Read our full review of the KitchenIQ sharpener (#4).
Promising review: "Works great, I've mostly used it on paring knives so far bc it's a fairly small sharpener so I'm little wary of using it on the big bois in the knife block. However, it's sharpened the little ones so well I might have to just don a big protective suit and go for it with the could-cut-a-pumpkin knives." —Helen
Get it from Amazon for $5.99+ (available in four colors).
7. A time-saving hand drill attachment for hollowing out your pumpkin and getting it ready for the *actual* carving. Hands down, this is probably the most annoying part of carving. Or at least IMO.
Promising review (for the pic on the left): "One of the best time-saving tools for pumpkin carving. Works with any drill. Good for shaving down the insides and getting a thin wall for easy carving. Keep the packaging for storage year to year. Pro tip: You'll wrap up pumpkin strings/guts around the shaft with normal use and the easiest way to remove them is to detach the gutter from your drill and slide it off." —Kevin
Promising review (for the pic on the right): "I bought this, wondering if I had wasted my money. But then I hosted a carving party with eight kids. This is a miracle tool! It cuts carving time in half or even more than half! We even got to do fancy carving bc we weren't too tired from gutting the pumpkins!" —S Camp
Get it from Amazon for $10.61.
8. A 10-piece pumpkin-carving kit (that comes with a carrying case) to help you make your ghoulish creation come to life — even if you're totally new to the whole jack-o'-lantern game.
9. Or if you wanna go knife-less, a hammer-carving kit that's safe (and fun!) for kids to use. You simply place the cookie-cutter-like forms on the pumpkin, hammer them with the wooden hammer, and then pop out the molds and pieces of pumpkin. Where was this when I was a kid?!
Promising review: "I ordered these thinking it would make pumpkin carving easier for my 6-year-old son. While it did make it easier, and possible, adult assistance was definitely still needed. But honestly, I love these! It takes a lot of the tedious work out of pumpkin carving (taping a stencil to a round surface, poking tiny holes into the pumpkin etc). And they are super sturdy. Used them twice and still no bending. Now if only they had more shapes...." —Wendy
Get it from Amazon for $19.86.
10. An overnight water bath or sleepover in the fridge to help keep your newly carved visage hydrated and put off mold and decay. No more having to wait around to carve one that'll last 'til Halloween.
Once a pumpkin I carved and left in my dorm room started rotting about a week in. It looked super grotesque and v Halloweeny, but I was heartbroken. Don't let that happen to you!
Certain camps use a bleach treatment (which is great if you're keeping it indoors and don't have pets; I can vouch that it helps a LOT), while others swear by a similar treatment with apple cider vinegar. Though the consensus from the Internet seems to be that the ACV just attracts bugs.
11. Some battery-operated votives that are so cheap, it'll be NBD if they're kaput once you bring out your turkey decor. Here's to avoiding a fire hazard and making your jack perfectly ~glow~.
The light source you place inside your pumpkin will also affect the rot timeline. Aka, placing a super strong light in there will make your new favorite decoration decay much faster. These fake candles work on both real and foam pumpkins!
Promising review: "I purchased these for Halloween to safely light my fake pumpkins. These little things were amazing! Not just for the price but the power packed in such a small light. They have a great flame-like flicker and give out a lot of light. A must purchase for those looking for something like this. You don’t be disappointed." —Phoenix
Get a 12-pack from Amazon for $10.99.
12. A pumpkin fogger kit you can hook up to a fog machine to make everything that much creepier.
13. A set of pumpkin "fangs" to really level up your frightful creation.
Promising review: "These are super easy to use, and made our simple pumpkin look fierce. We got a LOT of compliments on it. After Halloween, I washed the teeth in the dishwasher, and plan to use them again next year. I'm not sure if they will still glow in the dark after washing them, but it doesn't matter, because they'll still look cool." —Midwest Mother of 3
Get them from Amazon for $9.84.
14. Some bat wings and a stand with feet you can add to your carved jack-o'-lantern or just a plain pumpkin if you're not really feeling like putting in much effort.
Knob Creek Metal Arts is a Louisville, Kentucky-based shop that sells handmade metal goods for your home.
Promising review: "I'm SO GLAD I came across your store and bought these! I really enjoyed seeing my pumpkin 'bat' sitting outside every time I came home. VERY CUTE! good job!" —Anonymous
Get it from Knob Creek Metal Arts on Etsy for $19.99.
15. Or posable pumpkin limbs for a subtler scary effect. Stuff of my literal childhood nightmares. And maybe the stuff of the neighborhood kids' too!
The Original Pumpkin Teeth is a Blanchardville, Wiconsin-based shop that specializes in pumpkin and Halloween items.
Promising review: "Love, love, love... Already had a pumpkin to stick the stems into so very happy with the purchase. along with speedy delivery!" —Nancy Rourke
Get them from The Original Pumpkin Teeth on Etsy for $31.49.
16. A custom-carved foam pumpkin in the visage of Jack Skellington in case you're still a bit "meh" on carving yourself. (There's Etsy for that!)
PerfectlyPera is a Chicago-based shop selling Disney-centric items.
Promising review: "Absolutely went above and beyond for my order. My pumpkins couldn’t have turned out any more perfect. Thank you so much!!!" —Lisa Hersha
Get it from PerfectlyPera on Etsy for $35.
17. Or a less realistic custom "carved" pumpkin your family can treasure for years to come.
Promising review: "This was amazing! So cute! It’s a ceramic-like material, so it’s pretty durable, but don’t drop it from a high height. Putting batteries in is a little annoying, but mainly because it’s secure. I have this outside but under the covered porch, I wouldn’t put it on my lawn or anything." —Pursymarr
Get it from Amazon for $45.99+ (available in two sizes and four colors).
Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Happy carving!
Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.