Love pumpkin patches and decorating your porch for Halloween, but loathe the messy, gory process of carving gourds? Carefully toss that carving knife to the side and test a new pumpkin-decorating technique this year.
1. Paint it teal to signify allergy-friendly treats:
For kids with food allergies, Halloween can be especially tricky—so consider offering some non-food treats, such as stickers, temporary tattoos or other Halloween-themed trinkets. Then signify there is something for every trick-or-treater by adding a pumpkin painted teal to your front porch.
2. Stencil a boo-tiful pattern:
If you’re more comfortable with a paint brush than a carving knife, a stencil may be just the way to go! You can pick a spooky theme or go with something autumnal that can continue to adorn your porch until Thanksgiving. (Another perk of not carving? Your pumpkins will last much longer!)
3. Mummify it:
Raid your first-aid kit for some gauze, grab some oversized googly eyes and give your pumpkin the King Tut treatment. Just wrap it up with the gauze, use hot glue to apply the eyes and ta-da!
4. Add some creepy-crawly touches:
Give trick-or-treaters a scare by wrapping chunky white yarn around your pumpkins to mimic a spider web and then use hot glue to apply spiders of the plastic variety.
5. Stack up a spooky witch:
If you have more pumpkins than you know what to do with, stack three in a snowman style with a stake down the middle for support. Then tie a black trash bag below the top pumpkin, add a witch’s hat and make a face with googly eyes and a small, warty gourd pinned on as the nose. Bonus points for painting the “face” green!
6. Light ‘em up:
Break out those Christmas lights a little early, wrap them around pumpkins and line the walkway to your door. It’s simple, but also on-theme and practical!
7. Say it with a decal:
Local craft stores have caught onto the no-carving trend and now offer an array of pumpkin-sized decals with fun Halloween designs or sayings. If you’re against taking “the easy way,” you can create your own decals with sticky vinyl cut into a design of your choice.
