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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 31st. 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.

Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving TraditionsPin
Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving Traditions

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.

Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving TraditionsPin
2007 – When it all began…

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!

Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving TraditionsPin
Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving Traditions

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?

Halloween Family Pumpkin Carving TraditionsPin
2012 – Having a little baby of almost a year didn’t slow us down…

I Tell Stories

Lyne Proulx
Lyne Proulxhttps://ottawamommyclub.ca/
Lyne Proulx is a Certified WEBB Bodywork Pet Practitioner, Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI), Certified Professional Wedding Consultant, and an Event Planner. She loves all things Disney and is an avid teaholic and chocoholic. She coordinated the Annual Infant Information Day/Early Years Expo for the City of Ottawa for 8 years. She was the Queen B of the BConnected Conference, Canada's Digital Influencer and social media Conference in Ottawa and Toronto. She was also the co-chair of the Navan for Kraft Hockeyville 2009-2011 committee that organized five community events within 6 months, and helped Navan reach the top 10 finalists in Canada. In April 2011, she received the City of Ottawa Mayor's City Builder Award.

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Comments

  1. Those are neat pumpkins! We don’t have any traditions for Halloween, really, although we do try to have a pumpkin carving night every year.

  2. I love halloween! I even dress the dog up! I used to match the dog and my oldest but now my older is very set on what he wants so the younger is now my target! Last year the dog and my younger son were bees! Cutest thing ever! This year I really need to step up my game for the pumpkins though. Those are awesome!

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