How to Carve a Pumpkin

Cool Ways to Carve a Pumpkin

Halloween is coming up and it is definitely my favorite holiday. I love the crisp autumn air, the candy and fun, the spooky and the scary, and the costumes. But one of my favorite parts about Halloween is carving a pumpkin. One of my earliest memories about Halloween is learning how to carve a pumpkin. Jack-o-lanterns are the best. Here are a couple of tips and tricks I picked up over the years when it comes to pumpkin carving.

The first step to successfully carve a pumpkin is in pumpkin selection. No sooner than a week before Halloween, you need to go out in search of the perfect pumpkin. What does the perfect pumpkin look like? It depends from person to person.

It might seem like a good idea to find the biggest pumpkin you can; this is a common desire and a lot of people want the biggest pumpkin on the block. I'm all for it, but you have to remember that as the pumpkin gets bigger (and heavier), the steps needed to take to carving a pumpkin become harder and harder.

Pumpkin carving should be fun and not a chore, so make sure you get a pumpkin the right size for the amount of time you want to spend working on it. Other than size, you should also try to find a pumpkin that has a nice shape for your plans; in some cases, a rounder pumpkin is the right choice; in others, you might want a taller pumpkin, or maybe even one that is is oddly shaped. Consider your design when choosing your pumpkin.

The next step to pumpkin carving is the worst. You must cut out the top "lid" or, since it is a jack-o-lantern soon enough, "hat". Cut in at an angle so the lid won't fall into the hollow pumpkin. Once the top is removed, the scooping begins. Scoop out all of the seeds (and set aside for toasting, if you so wish) and stringy gunk. Finally, you are ready to carve your pumpkin.

If you don't have a design in mind already, you can find plenty of templates and stencils online to help you carve a pumpkin that looks great. Whether you want something scary or funny, cool or beautiful, you can certainly find someone that has already tried something like it online.

Don't necessarily follow things exactly; perhaps the best looking jack-o-lantern is inspired by a couple of designs, rather than exactly following one design. Experiment and think ahead and you can have a really awesome pumpkin on your front steps.

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