Pumpkin Carving

September 27, 2016

Kim Eckert

All you have to do is pop on over to Pinterest and see how many fun ideas there are to do with pumpkins and kids this time of year. I saw a fun idea to make shapes with cookie cutters, and we gave it a try.

Well, have you ever heard of a Pinterest fail? This was much harder than it looked!

Our pumpkins were too hard for this to really work great, so you'll need to get a good mallet and metal cookie cutters. Use cookie cutters that are on the cheap side, as they will likely get a little bunged-up during the process.

Or, just go classic with the triangles for eyes and snaggle-tooth mouth. That never fails! Here's a few other reminders for pumpkin carving. Enjoy!

Use a dry-erase marker to test out your pattern before you start cutting into the pumpkin. This will help you during the slicing, and helps you be more creative as you can just wipe off your designs and start over.
Do you have an electric drill with a big bit? Well, if you do, then you have the perfect pumpkin eyes or nose! Depending on how old your kiddos are, this is a good way to teach them how to use a drill, too.
This seems obvious, but don't cut the hole for the lid straight up-and-down, or else it won't rest when you place the lid on the top, it will just drop into the pumpkin.
Spread petroleum jelly on the cut edges to seal in moisture. If your pumpkin still shrivels a few days later, you can revive it with a facedown soak in cold water for a few hours and he'll be a little revived.
If you leave the lid on the pumpkin, be sure to make a "chimney" hole so he doesn't get smoked-out!
I read that you can sprinkle a little cinnamon on the pumpkin lid for a freshly-baked pumpkin pie aroma when he's lit. I'm trying this one!

Do you have any tried-and-true pumpkin tips to share? Please add in the comments!