In light of my favorite holiday approaching, it's time for tombstones, cob webs, and most notably, pumpkins! Here are some fun ideas to spruce up the regular old jack-o-lantern to make yours stick out from any others on the street!
Hungry Pumpkin
In carving your pumpkin, choose a large pumpkin and make a big mouth with pointy teeth. The mouth should be gaping and have plenty of room. Take a smaller pumpkin or other gourd and either carve or draw a face onto it, making it look like it's screaming. Place this in the mouth of the large pumpkin and you have a cannibalistic vegetable! Other objects/creatures can be placed into a jack-o-lantern's mouth to create a similar lively affect.
Sick Pumpkin
Save all the seeds and "guts" from the hollowing process and place them so they are pouring out of a gaping mouth in the jack-o-lantern. This is simple but very effective and always instigates giggles and attracts attention.
Costumed Pumpkins
Don't limit your pumpkins to just 2-D designs. Have fun experimenting with hats and wigs on your carved pumpkins to complete their transformation from vegetable to decoration. Just make sure that battery operated candles are used instead of real flames to prevent a dangerous fire hazard.
Pumpkin Man and Totem
Take a fully carved pumpkin and secure it on a pole, such as a broomstick, and attack a second short pole perpendicular to it, trying to recreate the body of a man. Dress the "skeleton" in clothes and stuff as you would a scarecrow and stand up in a sturdy position. This method can be converted into a totem pole by stacking multiple pumpkins on top of each other. In these designs the pumpkins shouldn't be lit with a flame.
Mutilated Pumpkin
Take a jack-o-lantern carved with a face of agony or comedy and insert anything you want to give it some character. This could be anything from a knife, to a hatchet, to a fork. Just be sure that wherever the pumpkin is being placed is a spot where people, aka small children, can't have access to the tools.
