It’s October and pumpkins are everywhere! One of my family’s favorite fall activities is a visit to the pumpkin patch. My children love to pick out interesting pumpkins—ones that are odd shaped, bumpy or a color different from the traditional bright orange. Instead of carving our quirky pumpkins, we like to decorate them in unique ways. We’ve found that carved pumpkins only last a few days before they begin to rot, but when we just decorate the outside, our pumpkins last for weeks!
Here are five fun no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas to try this Halloween.
- Paint. Painting a pumpkin can be fun for any age. Toddlers can use finger paint to create a colorful design on their pumpkin. Older kids can paint free hand or use stencils to create a Halloween design on their pumpkin. For a spooky shine at night, decorate your pumpkin with glow-in-the-dark paint.
- Melt. Create a colorful crayon drip art pumpkin by melting crayons over the pumpkin with a hairdryer. First, choose your crayon colors and remove the wrappers. Break the crayons in half and glue to the top of the pumpkin. Then, use a hairdryer on low to melt the crayons and watch the wax drip down the sides of the pumpkin. Allow the wax to dry and enjoy the colorful result!
- Wrap. Wrap a pumpkin in gauze and add some googly eyes for a cute pumpkin mummy.
- Glue. Glue pom-poms or colorful gems to your pumpkin for a polka-dot look. For a glitzy effect, use glue to create stripes or swirls on your pumpkin and sprinkle on some glitter.
- Dress up. Use masks, hats, glasses, beads or crowns to dress up your pumpkins. Use markers or paint to add funny faces.
