This year I decide to get a little more into the spirit of Halloween. Last week we went to Costco and they had carving pumpkins for $13 and I thought we’ll give it a go. We also bought a box of chocolates that had 116 pieces for the trick or treaters.
I went searching for a pattern for my jack-o-lantern and found a great site that has many, many, patterns for you to use. In fact The Pumpkin Lady has over 700 different designs you can choose from.
After much deliberation I decided to go with “Boo Who” from the “Boo Crew“.
On cutting the pumpkin open I realised I never knew just how weird these things were. Not pumpkins in general but these types of pumpkins. You open them, pop the top off and you’re presented with a mostly hollow inner with a bunch of seeds floating around connected sinewy strands of pumpkins bits. It’s kind of gross.
I used our slotted spoon to scrape the insides out as best I could. I scraped so hard I broke the handle of the spoon, so now we need a new spoon.
Most of the jack-o-lanterns I had seen have been cut right through, then inside you place a tea light candle to cast the light. I went a little differently.
Inside, once clean I noticed what little flesh the was was a but uneven. Not having the correct tools, I used our ice-cream scoop to try and even out the inside as best I could.
I cut out my pattern on paper and used a Sharpie to transfer the design onto the pumpkin. I then used a pretty sharp screwdriver to do the carving, but only so far down so there was a membrane of pumpkin left so when I put a light behind it would shine through, but not too brightly.
Once complete and it took a while and a few hand cramps, I put my LED light panel behind it and adjusted the brightness until it was nicely lit. I was quite happy with the result.
I put our pumpkin outside, it was our way to let folks know we had treats, and the children came with parents in toe. Most were little more than a cape with some dodgy make up. There were also three Elsas, a SWAT team member and three little pirates. In all there weren’t too many kids, about 8 families in total and we were left it a LOT of treats left over.
In hindsight, I should have waited to buy the pumpkin. Our local Foodworks was originally selling them for $3.99/kg. But on the day of halloween they had them for just $5 for the whole thing.
Next year, I think we’ll go all out. More decorations, more carved pumpkins, more varied candy! It should be fun.
As a bonus here’s a photo of my niece. Apparently she was indulging in the candy in between visitors.
