J is really interested in Halloween this year and has been getting really excited about it. She has had her bat outfit on more than once already and has been trying to cast magic spells with her wand. Enjoying Halloween with her has been great fun so far and I wanted to find a way to make a great looking Pumpkin whilst keeping her fingers intact and not terrifying her (she’s only three!)

My solution to carving the Pumpkin safely was to do the cutting and preparing myself and enlist Joss’ help with the rest. Once the top of the pumpkin was cut off, Joss spread glue all over it and sprinkled glitter / jewels on top (and got a fair amount stuck to her hands too!) While she was decorating, I quickly scooped most of the flesh and seeds out in preparation for carving.

Instead of carving a scary face into the pumpkin, I thought something more ‘pretty’ to go with the lovingly made lid provided by Joss would be nice. I used cookie / pastry cutters to make shapes in the pumpkin by hammering it gently into the sides with a rolling pin. Joss was able to help with this too and we chose a heart shaped design which we hammered all the way around and I used a sharp knife occassionally to help the cutter through.

One of the nice things about this way of carving / decorating the pumpkin is that the glitter / jewels look good in the daytime and the shapes look great at night with the candlelight so you can make a display on a windowsill or as a table centrepiece that looks good throughout the day. Happy Halloween!