7 Pumpkin Carving Tips for Fun Days

The main activity of the spooky season is pumpkin carving. Paired with a piping hot cup of pumpkin coffee or latte, it's a great way to get in the spirit with family and friends. But you need to know a few tricks to get your engraving just right. Here's how to make the perfect jack-o-lantern.

1. Pick the right pumpkin for you

Before you carve, you will need to pick your pumpkin. And give the pumpkin you pick a complete inspection, and check for any soft spots — you don't want a pumpkin that's already started to spoil. Some pumpkins have deep ridges which are fun to look at, but a pain to carve. Go for a pumpkin with a smooth surface instead.

2. Hollow it out

Before carving any pumpkin, you need special scraping tool. A spoon with a serrated edge will clean out a pumpkin quicker and better than your spoon from your kitchen drawer. If you’d rather use what you have in the kitchen, opt for a straight-edged blade or serrated knife when carving.

3. Etch out an imperfect circle at the top

Ditch your inner perfectionist and give up any hope of carving a perfect circle on top of a pumpkin. Instead, carve an angle and leave a notch in your circle so you know how to put the two parts back together perfectly.

4. Thin the pumpkin shell

After scraping the walls of the squash with a large spoon, use a spatula to thin the shells from the inside. This makes it easy to sculpt and brighten any beautifully etched and shaved look.

5. Draw or trace your pattern with dry-erase markers

When it comes to how to transfer your imaginary pumpkin design onto a bright orange canvas, you have a few options. One: Freehand with a dry erase marker. Two: Track with templates. Or three: Create your own dot join pattern using a tape-printed photo, then poke or view to transfer the pattern to the pumpkin.

6. Start carving

To start carving, you need to move your mini-saw, blade or knife along the line you trace, pausing when you need to change direction. After carving out the contoured sections on your pumpkin, gently push on the inside walls of the pumpkin to pop each section out. It's easy to lose a jack-o-lantern tooth here or an eyebrow there if you go too fast, so patience is key.

7. Light it up

4 to 8 votive candles per pumpkin makes it glow nice and brightly. Or you can swap out hazardous flame-lit candles with a repurposed mason jar filled with a string of lights or an LED candle for a safer way to light up your creepy creation.