Six innovative things to do with your pumpkin this Halloween

However, one thing that doesn’t have to change is the annual ritual of pumpkin carving. It’s the perfect way to get into the Halloween spirit at home and get spookily creative.

Some things remain constant when carving pumpkins – you need to prep your gourd properly by scooping out the innards (pro tip: wash and roast up the seeds for a tasty snack, making sure nothing is wasted), draw on your pattern before cutting it out, and make sure you safely use a sharp knife. Outside of this, what you actually want to do with your pumpkin is entirely up to you.

This year has seen some new trends in the pumpkin world – and these are the best ones to try yourself…

1. Paint your pumpkins

My daughter finished painting her pumpkin instead of carving it #artisoxygen #vote pic.twitter.com/ZtY3vRnc05

— Stacy Pinkston 🌱🛹🌻🇺🇦 (@stateoflynn) October 25, 2020

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If the idea of arming your kids with sharp knives and letting them go to town on a pumpkin doesn’t exactly thrill you, instead get in on this year’s pumpkin painting trend.

Transforming a pumpkin from bright orange to an array of other colours is a surefire way to make it stand out – you could opt for creepy patterns of ghosts, ghouls and vampires galore, or even paint your favourite TV, film or book characters on. The key is to cover the whole pumpkin with paint for maximum impact.

2. Properly reflect this year’s horrors

My mother has truly produced the pumpkin of our era. pic.twitter.com/P6V4ixMRw7

— Alex Barnard 🇺🇦 (@avb_soc) October 19, 2020

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This year has been a particularly scary one, so it makes sense for the pandemic to be front and centre of many pumpkins. One of our favourite creations has to be the dreaded Zoom interface in pumpkin form – something we’ve had to get all too familiar with, with the potential to send shivers down your spine.

Another big pumpkin trend is masks. If your knife skills are up to it, you can carve the face covering onto your pumpkin – if not, just place one around your gourd.

Pumpkin carving: 2020 edition. Reminder to wear a mask! 🎃👻 pic.twitter.com/R17WMSIWPo

— Darby Little (@DarbyLittle) October 25, 2020

3. Go for the memes

For a more light-hearted take on the year, go down the comedy route and choose your favourite meme as a template.

This Halloween, there already seems to be one particular meme everyone wants to carve into their pumpkin – and you can understand why.

 

4. Make your pumpkins cute

pumpkin carving😋😋 pic.twitter.com/Ji71jecKJ8

— Jiayao (@Jiayao41134113) October 26, 2020

2020 is already scary enough without you getting the fright of your life every time you see a coronavirus-related pumpkin. For those of us who don’t much like the horror aspect of Halloween, there’s the cutesy pumpkins trend. This doesn’t have to be elaborate or tough to pull off – instead of carving sharp teeth into your gourd, just create small, adorable smiles.

5. Stack up your pumpkins

Why carve just one pumpkin when you can do two? With fewer Halloween parties this year, we all have a bit more time to perfect the art of carving and could perhaps try integrating a smaller gourd into a larger, main pumpkin. It will take a bit more planning and effort, but will be totally worth it.

6. Stick to the classics

cw // halloween

i tried carving a pumpkin 😁 pic.twitter.com/p08ihhnu82

— nat ♛ FOLLOW @SIKBBIN (@multibouquet) October 25, 2020

Sure, this might be a list of the coolest new pumpkin trends to try this year, but sometimes you just can’t go wrong with the classics. When you pop a tea light into a spookily carved pumpkin with a wide, creepy grin, you’ll never regret your design choice.