Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving Traditions

Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving Traditions

Most families who participate in Halloween decide to carve pumpkins and showcase them on October 31^st. My husband takes it to the next level – simple jack-o-lantern faces won’t do for him. Around 2007, he brought up the idea of using Halloween pumpkin carving stencils (you can find them online or create your own) to do our pumpkins.

Instructions

How it works: Wash and dry your hollowed-out pumpkin. You need to print the stencils in a size appropriate to your pumpkin (this might take some trial and error). Tape the stencil to your pumpkin and then use a tool to poke holes in all the lines of your stencil (a reverse connect-the-dots).  You can then take off the stencil and rub flour or baby powder onto your pumpkin to highlight the holes you’ve created.  From here, you start carving!  My husband and I have found that traditional pumpkin carving tools that you can buy at the stores are typically inefficient. We’ve used small carving saws and even electric knives for the bigger pieces.

My husband is a creative “project person”, so it didn’t surprise me that he wanted to try something a bit more elaborate.  We’ve been pumpkin carving enthusiasts ever since – my husband starts asking weeks before Halloween when we are going to start our pumpkins. My daughter is still too young to participate, but her time will come!

We have a lot of fun with this family tradition and the friendly competition that ensues as we get feedback from friends and neighbours about which pumpkin they like best.

What do you look forward to most about Halloween?  Any special traditions in your home?

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