It's a Halloween decorating milestone: pumpkin carving (using the great free pumpkin stencils below). The seeds. The smell. The mess. Plus those awkward, sharp tools that are a bit dangerous for enthusiastic tiny hands.
Wait a minute, there's gotta be a better way to create a super-festive pumpkin!
Give yourself permission to get creative and push the design boundaries of good pumpkin decorating, especially when the little ones are involved. Put down the carving knife! Instead, consider:
- The Magic of Markers -- all kids (big and small) love to color. Use the pumpkin as your canvas!
- Stickers and Temporary Tattoos -- Make a pirate or biker pumpkin, and you can even sport a matching tattoo! Or do a quirky design of pumpkin stickers on a pumpkin. It's modern art!
- Buttons, Fabric, Yarn and Glue -- make a face by gluing on buttons for eyes, yarn for hair, and for the true fashion prodigy, make a hat or cape from fabric scraps. It's like a special Halloween Project Runway Challenge! For kids!
For more ideas and inspiration, check out these free pumpkin stencils from the Holiday Master herself, Martha Stewart!
A rickety picket fence unites a row of pumpkins in a depiction of a farmer's field.
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Pumpkin Templates
Farmer's Field
A rickety picket fence unites a row of pumpkins in a depiction of a farmer's field.
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Martha Stewart Living
Vulture's Cage
Create a scenario of fear with this menacing vulture silhouetted behind the Gothic arches of its locked cage.
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Martha Stewart Living
Jack-o'-Clock
It's always just a few minutes till the witching hour on the face of this "Rouge Vif d'Etampes" pumpkin.
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Martha Stewart Living
Funkin Witch Carousel
Turn a Funkin into a frightfully fun spinning witch carousel you can use for Halloween year after year.
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Martha Stewart Living
Pumpkins with Marbleized Paper Leaves
The stippled skins of this "One Too Many" pumpkin are adorned with marbleized Florentine-paper leaves and millinery-wire tendrils. Mini "White Ball" gourds nestle at their feet, while "Baby Boo" pumpkins find a spot at the table as place markers.
Because none of the pumpkins in this subtly colored centerpiece are carved, they can last well into the fall, perhaps even until Thanksgiving.
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Martha Stewart Living
Spiderwebs
A front door tempts trick-or-treaters with a collection of eerie spiderwebs and a tarantula shining brightly.
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Martha Stewart Living
Get more eerie and enchanting Halloween décor ideas, plus recipes, costumes, pumpkin templates and more.>Get more spooky crafts!
Martha Stewart Living
