Carving jack o’lanterns is such a creative experience. My husband has always enjoyed carving Halloween pumpkins as long as I’ve known him. He’s passed that creativity and love of carving pumpkins onto our children. Every year we try something new. Last year we came up with some easy jack o’lantern ideas for carving and decorating the pumpkins.
We usually start by drawing the image we want on the pumpkin with a pencil. You can trace a pattern you print out from a website or free-hand draw your image.
If you carve an image like this ghost a day or two before Halloween, it will shrink and look even creepier and more unique.
This is a favorite with the tween boy crowd and very easy to carve.
I found a jacket on clearance at the thrift store that was the perfect size for a pumpkin. I placed the decorated pumpkin on top of a plastic container, added the baby jacket and voila! If only I can find fake gold chains and baby Adidas, I can make an 80’s hip hop jack o’lantern this year.
This jack o’lantern used a kit (thanks to my friend, J., for the sharing the kit with us). You could easily create this jack o’lantern from decorative paper and craft vinyl.
What are your favorite type of decorated pumpkins and jack o’lantern ideas? 
More Halloween Decorating
I’m a mom of 3, a veteran and military spouse. I’ve moved into 20+ homes all around the world. My passion is helping busy people make the space and time for what’s really important to them.
Corinne says
So many cute ideas! My teen son would absolutely love the one with the pumpkin guts all over the place.
susan says
Thanks, Corinne. I’m chuckling because guess the gender and age of my child that created the puking pumpkin. 😉