Pumpkin carving is a Halloween tradition that most of us have been doing for as long as we can remember. But for those of us with younger kids at home, you dread the day for carving. Somehow pumpkin innards end up on the floor, the table, in kids’ hair, on the ceiling; and you curse the day you ever bought that stupid orange fruit. (or is it a vegetable?)
To avoid the massacre of a poor pumpkin this year, I am planning to just let my kids paint their pumpkins. After doing a little research I am confident you’ll be able to persuade your family that painting will be much more fun than carving this year. This will also save you the smell straight from the deepest section of HELL you experience every year when you walk out onto your porch and realize you’ve left your pumpkin out there one day too many. Mess free, and stink free. Need I say more?!?!
Ways to Paint
Paintbrush and Paint Duh! Just make sure the paint is washable in case the kiddos decide to have a massacre involving paint instead. Have lots of newspaper or other paper on hand to put under the pumpkin, so you can just crumple it up and throw it away later. You can get really fancy with glitter or glow in the dark paint if that’s something you kids would be into!- Crayon Painting Technically, this isn’t painting or carving and it is also almost impossible to make a mess with. (Cha-ching!) Line crayons along the top of your pumpkin. The butt of the crayons should be near the stem of the pumpkin making a circle all the way around it. Let your child hold a hairdryer a few inches away from the crayons. They will melt down the pumpkin and look like a rainbow dripped all down the pumpkin. Cool!
- Fingernail Polish This option would be a hit for toddlers, especially little girls who want to get in to Mama’s make-up. Give your kids some nail polish (don’t worry, you don’t have to sacrifice your OPI, Dollar Tree polish will do) and let them at that pumpkin! Have nail polish remover on hand in case it ends up on little hands!
- Marble a Pumpkin To marble a pumpkin- you need a bowl you don’t care about, water, 3+ colors of nail polish, and baby white pumpkins. Fill the bowl about halfway up with water. Then, pour the desired amounts of colors and polish into the water. The nail polish will float on top of the water. But that’s a science lesson for another day. When you dip your pumpkin into the mixture the nail polish will stick to it in the cool little design you’ve made. Awesome!!
Squirt Bottles Fill up squirt bottles with paint. Give the bottles to your kids and have them stand over the pumpkin while they squirt the paint out. The paint will fall onto the pumpkin and this will result in a splatter-painted effect. This option is definitely done outside!! What a fun thing to do outside on a cool Fall day!!
To see these ideas (and more!) check out our Halloween Board on Pinterest!
About Brittany:
Brittany was born and raised in Alabama. She is a Wife and Mama of two sweet babies- her son John is two years old and her daughter Annie is ten months old. She is pursuing her degree in Home and Family Studies with an emphasis on Child Development from BYU. She is looking forward to writing for Birmingham Mommy in preparation for graduation in the Fall of 2016.
