Welcome to the second week of October! We’re continuing to share the Fall/Halloween cheer here at the Downton Baby blog. And this week is about a staple in Halloween activities, pumpkin decorating! It’s creative, fun and a perfect activity for the whole family! Read below for 10 ideas on how to carve and decorate pumpkins with your family this year!

The Classic Jack O’Lantern

This couldn’t be a list about decorating pumpkins if we didn’t start it off with the classic Jack O’Lantern. There’s a reason why the Jack O’Lantern is the standard for pumpkin carving. It can be either silly or scary, simple or intricate, or small and big. Let your creativity be your guide!

Painted Faces

If you like the typical Jack O’Lantern look but want to switch things up, grab your art supplies and get ready to draw! This kind of pumpkin art is perfect for little ones since there’s no need for sharp tools! You can be artistic and paint an abstract design or take a more simplistic route with various faces.

Fun with Animals

This one is for all you animal lovers! Pumpkins don’t necessarily have to be Halloween themed; the only real requirement is to have fun! Have each kid design a pumpkin after their favorite animal! Use bigger pumpkins for large animals and use little pumpkin for tiny critters.

The Mummy

Looking to add something extra to your regular Jack O’Lantern? Grab some gauze at the dollar store, wrap your pumpkin leaving their eyes and mouth exposed, and voila! You now have a mummy pumpkin. To get the whole family involved, have the adults do the carving and let the kids do the wrapping.

Peek-a-BOO

How cool and unique are these peeking pumpkins?! This craft is perfect for super busy parents because they’re easy and quick. A large pumpkin is preferred, so the bigger the better for this one. Carefully slice the top half of the pumpkin while still leaving a few inches on the back attached and have your child trace their hands on black construction paper. Once the hands are cut out, carefully fold the fingers over the edge of the pumpkin and secure the palms to the inside of the pumpkin. Grab your googly eyes, dab glue on the bottom and top of the eye, and carefully attach to the pumpkin. Now you have your peeking pumpkin in under 15 minutes!

Candy Corn Deliciousness

If one of the reasons you look forward to Halloween is for the candy corn, this project is for you. The shape and size of the pumpkins in personal preference, but we suggest gathering a variety to create a little candy corn pumpkin “family”. The easiest way is to use tape and borders for the white and yellow sections and to prevent paint from getting on the orange part. Then spray paint, or free hand, the white area avoiding the steam and then following with the bottom yellow area. Once you’re all done, arrange your pumpkins to create a cute candy corn pumpkin patch that’s perfect for photos!

The Black Cat

This one is one of our favorites! Get one smaller, round pumpkin for the head and one larger, ovular pumpkin for the body. You can either spray paint or paint them by hand. After letting both pumpkins dry for 24 hours, attach your googly eyes, whiskers, ears, and tail. Now you have the purrrfect pumpkin!

Glow in the Dark

Up your home’s spooky factor with glow in the dark pumpkins! Take any of your previously decorated pumpkins, whether they’re carved or painted, or you can start from scratch! Once you’ve designed your pumpkin, use glow in the dark spray paint in a well ventilated area and spray your pumpkins liberally. Let them dry and soak up any bright light (your yard on a sunny day will be perfect for this), once it gets dark your pumpkins will glow!

Download and print free pumpkin stencils here:

http://www.bhg.com/halloween/pumpkin-carving/printable-pumpkin-stencils/

https://www.zombiepumpkins.com/

http://www.pumpkinlady.com/

http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/beginner-halloween-pumpkin-carving-templates-pictures