35 great pumpkin carving and decorating ideas from the MadeForMums community
Looking for simple but effective designs for your pumpkin this Halloween? We asked our Top Testers' community for the best pumpkins they've carved or decorated with their children and the results are scarily good...
You've trudged round a muddy field, filled a wheelbarrow with gourds of all shapes, sizes and colours and have the pictures to prove it, but now you need to turn your pumpkin into a masterpiece that looks suitably spooky on your doorstep. While kids adore a Halloween activity, carving a pumpkin with them can actually be pretty scary... carving knives and toddlers are a recipe for disaster.
So, to help you find brilliant pumpkin carving ideas that the whole family can get involved in, we turned to our Top Testers who have created some creepy, clever and cute pumpkins to inspire you. From quick yet eye-catching designs to intricate depictions of some of their kids' favourite characters, here are 35 of the best tried-and-tested pumpkin ideas to try at home.
35 easy pumpkin carving ideas for Halloween
1. Baby inside a pumpkin
If you've got a little pumpkin of your own this Halloween, creating a little outfit out of your 'picked' pumpkin can be a very cute and photogenic way to honour the season of spooks and scares. To create this pumpkin, simply cut the top off, scoop out the insides and cut 2 legs holes big enough for your baby's legs to go through. You might want to line the pumpkin inside so your baby's clothes don't get sticky or stained.
2. Seasonal new baby photo display
Have you got a little pumpkin due in October? Check out our Halloween-inspired names and then book a seasonal newborn shoot using your pumpkins as a gourd-geous backdrop. No carving necessary!
3. Mr. Pumpkin Head
No time or desire to actually carve and scoop out your pumpkin? If your child is the proud owner of a Mr Potato Head toy from Toy Story then give them the accessories and encourage them to push them into the pumpkin wherever they feel works. You may have to create small holes using a small screwdriver or closed pair of scissors first.
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4. Leaf hair pumpkin
Another brilliant option if you don't want to carve with really little kids – head out on an autumnal nature walk and ask your little ones to collect leaves, conkers and twigs that they like the look of. Once home, cut holes in the top of the pumpkin and ask them to create a cool hairstyle using their forest finds. Then you just need felt tips to draw on a face or use acorns/conkers and twigs for the face. Effective and mess free.
5. Pirate pumpkin design
You'll need all hands on deck for this design. Older kids or creative grown-ups will love carving this scary pirate pumpkin with more than a hint of the Pirates of the Caribbean about it.
6. Peppa Pig pumpkin idea
After you've jumped around in muddy puddles collecting your pumpkins, turn them into your child's favourite cartoon pig by scraping out the shape of Peppa using a spoon with a pointed end. Young children can help out with this one as the spoon can't cut them.
7. Vomiting pumpkins
Wondering what to do with the seeds and stringy waste inside your pumpkin? Turn it into part of the design by carving a face and then displaying the innards coming out of its mouth like sick!
8. Thomas the Tank Engine pumpkin
Choo choo, all aboard the Pumpkin Express. If your child loves all things Thomas the Tank Engine, try carving this cool design for them this Halloween. Display on an upside down tray to look like tracks.
9. Painted vampire pumpkin
Cut out the carving element completely if you have tiny ones and instead help them get creative by painting a cool vampire face on their pumpkin. Acrylic paint works best for pumpkins as it's quick drying.
10. Personalised name pumpkin
Children will love seeing their name glow in the dark when you put your candles inside your pumpkin and display it on the doorstep. This design is really effective yet relatively simple for an adult to do (depending on the name – you might struggle to carve Bartholomew or Anastasia, for example!).
11. Sticker pumpkin
Mess and carving knife free, this is the ideal pumpkin activity for toddlers and preschoolers to take part in. Raid your sticker collection or buy some fun Halloween-themed ones and let your kids loose on their own pumpkins. Bonus points for adding other craft materials like pipe cleaners and googly eyes.
12. Werewolf pumpkin
It wouldn't be Halloween without the howl of a werewolf in the distance. Bring this scary horror character to life in pumpkin form by carving it like one of our talented Top Testers.
13. Pokémon pumpkin
If you've got a Pokémon fan in the family there are loads of terrifying creatures to choose from for your pumpkin, although the dual-type Ghost/Poison Pokémon Gengar, the final form of the aptly named Gastly, gets our vote for Halloween.
14. The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack and Sally pumpkins
"This is Halloween, this is Halloween, pumpkins scream in the dead of night,"... watch Tim Burton's famous kids' Halloween film with your children and then cave your very own Jack O'Lantern and Sally Finklestein. The perfect pumpkin duo!
15. Simple smiling pumpkin
There's nothing wrong with a lovely traditional pumpkin, especially as children can have a go at carving this themselves – you can buy safe family-friendly carving kits from places like Baker Ross, Hobbycraft and Amazon, although we'd always recommend an adult supervises with the carving.
16. Spiderman pumpkin
Spiders are synonymous with Halloween and have been for centuries – they're said to be dead spirits of loved ones watching from beyond the grave. Spooky! So if your son or daughter is a Spiderman fan then turning a pumpkin into this superhero works perfectly. Simply carve the 2 distinctive eyes and then gouge out the lines (not fully cutting all the way through the pumpkin) to create a convincing web effect.
17. Minnie Mouse pumpkin
Bring a little Disney magic to your house this Halloween and carve out a Minnie Mouse face into your pumpkin. This is an easy design with only 7 carved shapes, but it looks really eye-catching and is perfect for little ones who don't want anything too scary on the 31st October.
18. Hungry pumpkins
If you have pumpkins of lots of different sizes, have a little fun with them and create a hungry monster pumpkin gobbling up a smaller one. The sad face on the little pumpkin above is so cute!
19. Painted ghost pumpkin
How cute is this little ghost pumpkin? If you have managed to pick a stylish white pumpkin and need a quick and easy pumpkin design that looks way more effort than it is then this is the one for you. Just take a black marker pen of black paint and draw on 2 eyes, a mouth and eyebrows and you have the perfect ghostly pumpkin. This is the ideal project for younger children who are too small to carve.
20. Dragon pumpkin
A fire-breathing dragon is an excellent choice of character for a pumpkin, especially if you're Welsh and want to bring a patriotic vibe to the spooky festival.
21. Light-up Bluey pumpkin
Bluey loves Halloween and so will your "little squirts" when they get to help you create this super simple Bluey pumpkin. Top marks to this parent for buying a cool LED colour-changing light to give the pumpkin lots of different looks.
22. Buzz Lightyear pumpkin
To infinity and beyond! This Buzz Lightyear pumpkin design will delight Toy Story fans and cleverly only uses a few lines to create Buzz's face. You could use a stencil to make this or try and do your own free hand drawing with biro before you make the first cut.
23. Baby shark pumpkin
Baby pumpkin, doo doo doo doo doo doo... Lovers of the catchy (and let's be honest, very irritating) baby shark song will love this Baby Shark themed pumpkin on Halloween. It involves both carving and some gentle gouging with a spoon, so everyone can get involved.
24. Little house pumpkin
Just carve 2 large holes and, voilà, you have a cute mini house pumpkin that looks really sweet when lit up with a candle. Use cocktail sticks for the window and let kids play pumpkin dolls house with it when it's not lit.
25. Scary castle pumpkin
If you want to go for something a little more adventurous than a house, try an entire castle instead! This tall, white pumpkin lends itself perfectly to a Dracula-style castle that involves some carving and some painting. It looks really eerie with a candle flickering inside.
26. Mummy pumpkin and her babies
Play mummies and babies with your daughter or son this Halloween with this cute creation using a large pumpkin as the mummy and satsumas as the babies. Your toddler can easily draw little faces onto the satsumas while you get to work on the more adult job or carving the pumpkin.
27. Day of the Dead pumpkin
El Día de Muertos or the Day of the Dead Festival is celebrated in Mexico around Halloween and usually features vibrant multi-coloured skulls that look amazing. If you're feeling arty or have a teenager who wants to spend time decorating a pumpkin, this can be brilliant inspiration and results in a lovely spooky yet beautiful design like the one above.
28. Cyclops pumpkin
The one-eyed monster is easy to create in pumpkin form and looks really striking. You could channel Monsters Inc.'s Michael Wazowski like this cute pumpkin or go for a more scary take on the theme.
29. Cat pumpkin
You can't have a witch without her faithful cat and cats are really easy to carve into a pumpkin. Feeling artistic? Try this cool arched back hissing cat that looks super scary.
30. Dinosaur pumpkin
Probably one of the most requested pumpkin designs from little boys across the world! If you've been tasked with creating a T-Rex out of pumpkin flesh don't panic – try this simple design featuring the lovable Rex from Toy Story.
31. One pumpkin scared of the other duo
Give your pumpkins personalities and make people laugh as they walk past your house like this comedy duo above! The scared face is really simple to create so young kids could have a go at drawing the outlines before you carve.
32. Painted pumpkins
Unroll a long piece of cling film across your table, place pumpkins and paints on it, and invite your kids to go mad and design whatever colour or picture they fancy on their pumpkin. A lovely easy Halloween activity that doesn't involve any carving and can be done by kids almost independently.
33. Skeleton in a pumpkin jail
Got some plastic skeletons or Halloween character lying around? For a super simple pumpkin that kids will love, just carve a big rectangle into your pumpkin and then use wooden skewers to create a 'jail' for these naughty seasonal toys.
34. Trick or treat pumpkin
If you've mastered carving your child's name and want to try something a little more intricate, how about this ghoulish Trick or Treat pumpkin that tells passers-by that you're ready for the knock on the door come Halloween?
35. Batman pumpkin
The bats come out at Halloween so Batman fans will be in their element with this themed pumpkin featuring The Caped Crusader's unmistakable symbol. And is that Scarecrow we spy next to him?
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