Halloween Pumpkin Carving Ideas
Light up your Halloween celebrations with an expertly-carved pumpkin – we show you how!
With a little bit of time, and some great ideas to follow, pumpkin carving isn’t as tricky as it looks. From the equipment you’ll need, step-by-step instructions and even some free pumpkin carving stencils, you’ll soon have your spooky design ready for All Hallows’ Eve!
Pic: Shutterstock / New Africa
Lakeland, £4.99
Pumpkin carving equipment
- You’ll need a pumpkin scoop for taking out the seeds and some of the flesh to give you a good base for your design. Remember you can keep the pumpkin flesh aside to use in some seasonal recipes.
- Serrated carving saw or knife – this will make short work of the tough outer skin of the pumpkin, allowing you to cut right through for the larger details of your design, and to cut the top off your pumpkin to form a lid. A smaller knife might also be helpful for finer details.
- An etching tool might be useful, for delicate details or to etch the skin of the pumpkin without cutting right through.
Kits containing all of these items are readily available in places like Lakeland, Amazon and Hobbycraft.
Choosing a design
Easy carving ideas
When it comes to a design for your pumpkin, even the simplest ideas look great when lit up for Halloween. Take a look at the images on this page for some great ideas. Roughly sketch your design on to paper and cut out the main elements. Or if you want to be more adventurous and detailed, here are some brilliant (and free!) Halloween pumpkin stencils.
For more detailed designs, take a look on YouTube for tutorials to follow.
To get started
1. Cut a lid from the top of your pumpkin. This can be a simple circle or a star-shape. Use your serrated saw or knife to carefully cut through.
Pic: Shutterstock / Longfin Media
2. Remove the seeds and some of the flesh with your pumpkin scoop to leave a smooth finish on the inside, and pumpkin walls a few centimetres in thickness.
Pic: Shutterstock / Agnes Kantaruk
3. Arrange the paper cut-outs or stencil design on to your pumpkin and drawn round the shapes as a guide for cutting.
Pic: Shutterstock / 5 second Studio
Cutting out
Gently push your serrated carving saw or knife through one of the elements you want to cut out, then carefully follow your inked lines to remove the shape from the pumpkin. If you are finding it difficult to do this, you might have to scoop out more flesh from inside your lantern to make the walls of the pumpkin thinner.
Pic: Shutterstock / alexkich
Etch on eyebrows or smaller details once all the main cutting has been done, by removing the surface skin of the pumpkin but not going right through to the inside.
Lighting up your pumpkin – and great display tips!
Pic: Shutterstock / Alexander Raths
For safety, don’t use a candle inside your pumpkin. Instead insert a torch, battery powered fairy lights or battery operated tealights.
Consider adding other accessories like a witches hat, or group a few lanterns together for best effect! Different sized pumpkins look great together, or what about using the pumpkin stalk for a nose? Before carving, tip your pumpkin forward with the stalk in the centre front of the design. Draw the other main elements around this “nose”.
Pic: Shutterstock
Why do we carve pumpkins for Halloween?
Their origin of carving scary faces for Halloween is thought to date back to the mid 19th century, but it was turnips and not pumpkins that was the vegetable of choice, and Ireland and Britain who were the first countries to do this.
There’s an Irish myth about Stingy Jack, who tricked the Devil to make money. On Jack’s passing, the myth stated that God didn’t allow Jack into heaven, and the Devil didn’t allow him into hell, so Jack was left to roam the earth for eternity.
In Ireland, people started to carve scary faces out of turnips to frighten away Jack’s wandering soul. That’s why these Halloween favourites are sometimes called jack-o’-lanterns.
When Irish immigrants moved in great numbers to the U.S., they began carving jack-o’-lanterns from pumpkins rather than turnips, as pumpkins were native to the country.
As to why these lanterns became associated with Halloween (All Hallows’ Eve from the church’s celebration of the saints on Nov 1), it’s believe it is linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, a celebration in ancient Britain and Ireland to mark the end of summer and the beginning of the new year on November 1.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was widely believed that during Samhain the souls of those who had passed that year travelled to the “other world” and that other souls would return to visit their homes.
It seems that traditions from Samhain, included wearing disguises to hide yourself from the souls wandering around, were origins of the customs we still see every Halloween on October 31.
Allison Hay
I joined the "My Weekly" team thirteen years ago and, more recently, "The People's Friend". I love the variety of topics we cover both online and in the magazines. I manage the digital content for the brands, sharing features and information on the website, social media and in our digital newsletters.
