Over the past 30 years, our editors have imagined and made some of the most incredible pumpkins you've seen yet: whimsical creatures, spooky figures, and jaunty jack-o'-lanterns with funny faces.

You've mastered the toothy grin. Maybe you've experimented with eyebrows. But odds are you haven't given your pumpkin a hairdo, an eye patch, or a bow tie. Our templates for mix-and-match features are designed to help you up your game, providing just the right amount of guidance while leaving plenty of room for creative freedom. To start, download and print out your favorite templates, and play around with different combinations. Tape your chosen designs to the pumpkin, and start carving. Black areas on the templates indicate where you should cut all the way through, while gray ones mark where to just carve off the skin, allowing light to filter through moodily and giving your jack-o'-lantern even more depth of character.

Create a tree full of sharp-eyed owls. A den of hissing snakes. A bevy of sinister swans. Look more closely, if you dare, and you'll see that the creatures in these Halloween scenes are no such things. They're garden-variety gourds and pumpkins, dressed up for the occasion. All it takes is a carving tool, a coat of paint, and a can-do spirit to turn unsuspecting squashes from your local nursery into creepy crawlers that will wriggle and wing their way into a trick-or-treater's dreams. Or, what's the flip side of scary? Spellbinding. And that's where other Halloween ideas live—in a land of dreamy woodland creatures and deep forests that's far more charming than chilling. Some are simple enough for little goblins to help with (like our fairy house pumpkin); others take a bit of skill with a carving tool (such as our etched woodland fox and bunny rabbit). But each is bound to bewitch. Mysterious autumn skies—and all the things that sparkle, sway, and flutter across them after the sun sets—inspired these spectacular pumpkins: a glowing etched moth, foreboding tree, or a night sky of stars.

Some are easier to create than your average jack-o'-lantern. (If you can glue it, you can do it!) Others are showstoppers in their own right. But each one is an opportunity to make your home shine bright on a cool Hallow's Eve.