Get your pumpkin carving skills in order this Halloween. Follow our top tips to make sure your pumpkin is the best of the bunch, the most creative, lasts the longest and even smells the sweetest this Halloween!
Carve on with our 10 top pumpkin tips!
1. How to Pick the Perfect Pumpkin
A sturdy green stem indicates a freshly picked pumpkin. Whilst the thicker the stem, the thicker the walls of the pumpkin, so bare this in mind. Thick walls will support your design but will be trickier to cut through.
2. How Weirdly Shaped
From mini and cute, to tall and wonky, to big and bulging! Let your imagination run wild when picking your pumpkin and let the natural shape guide your design, inspire the character and the face you're going to carve. Opt for one with a flat bottom to make sure it won't roll away!
3. How to Put a Lid on It
Slice your lid on an angle, not straight down. That way, when you replace the lit at the end it will rest naturally in place rather than falling inside.
4. How Much to Scoop
Scoop it all out! The thinner the walls the easier will be to carve your designs into later on. Plus will prevent it going moldy so soon.
5. How to Recycle Those Scraps
Get creative with the pieces you carve out. Repurpose scraps to use as a tongue, warts or even a figure in it's mouth!
6. How to Add Definition
Experiment with different tools and depths when carving. Scrape thinner sections to create definition and texture as the light glows through.
7. How to Keep it Fresh
Smear a touch of Vaseline on the exposed edges of your design to seal them and prevent the pupmkin from drying out so quickly.
8. How to Making it Sweet Smelling
Sprinkle a little spice inside before you light your candle for a more fragrant smelling pumpkin! Add a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg to fill your home with a sweet seasonal fragrance whilst the candle burns.
9. How to Let the Heat Out
Cut a small chimney in the lid of our pumpkin so the heat from the candle can escape and prevent the lid from collapsing. Light a candle and replace the lid for a few minutes so it blackens the section where a chimney will be needed most. Use this as a guide to cut a small channel for the heat to leave through.
10. Time for Pumpkin Pie?
Put all the pumpkin to good use and use the scooped out innards to turn in to a delicious Halloween feast! Roast the seeds for a nutritious snack. Or use the flesh to make pumpkin soup, pumpkin humus, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin bread.... the list goes on!
