Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Carving

In our house, as soon as October is upon us, it’s Halloween! I love this festival. I enjoy not only the decorations and trick or treating, but also the history of the festival fascinates me. (Read my recent post 13 Halloween facts to find out more). My kids absolutely love pumpkin carving. It’s a great family activity that can take care of an hour (or two in our case). We bought 2 large pumpkins from Asda priced only £1.50 each.

We then spotted a pumpkin carving kit for £3.00 – we usually use knives and spoons to create our ghoulish pumpkins, but I thought this carving set would make our creations look a little more professional! The set contained a number of tools, as well as a really useful book containing pumpkin stencils. 

Pumpkin Carving

First of all (most importantly for them), the girls chose their stencils. This 20-minute activity was perhaps the most laborious task of the day! 

After much deliberation, the girls finally chose their designs – Aurelia chose a skeleton stencil and Kerri a cat! They then moved onto the pumpkins. They scooped out the insides of the pumpkin using the tools provided in the kit.

This was incredibly messy, but so much fun. This took the best part of an hour!

Getting the stencils onto the pumpkins was rather tricky. We used sellotape to hold the stencil in place while we drew around it.  We used red marker pens so the lines we made would stand out.

The tools were relatively easy to use (much easier than the kitchen knives we have used in previous years). Under my supervision (of course) my 4-year-old, Aurelia was even able to help with the carving.

Eventually, after around 30 minutes of carving, the pumpkins were ready! They might not be the most professional pumpkins, but they are certainly the best we have ever made!

With a 12 year age gap between my children, I’m always on the prowl for things they can do together. Pumpkin carving is certainly one of those activities.

I recently read that squirrels like pumpkins! Once we have finished with our pumpkins, we have decided to take them to our local park so the squirrels can feed on them. I think this a great use of used pumpkins! An autumn walk is then another family activity we can get from our pumpkin carving afternoon!

If like me, you love Halloween, you can download a free Halloween Countdown Calendar from Festive-Lights. This is a great way to plan all of your spooktacular Halloween activities!

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15 Comments

  1. paddockfamily4
    October 23, 2018 / 11:28 am

    Love it! Pumpkin carving is such a fun family activity!

    • October 23, 2018 / 11:41 am

      Thank you – it’s a good way to pass a few hours πŸ™‚

  2. 1stephloves
    October 23, 2018 / 11:34 am

    Nice Post lovely. Love the pumpkin carvings, the girls did well. Stencils are always a good idea. ? X

    • October 23, 2018 / 12:06 pm

      Thank you – I was rather impressed with their artistic skills πŸ™‚

  3. October 23, 2018 / 1:39 pm

    I love having a go at pumpkin carving with my daughter but I always make a mess of it. Miss my lines with the knife, cut too far and lose a tooth. Maybe a need a pumpkin carving kit. Halloween is fantastic and probably my favourite holiday. Just so much fun. And then there’s horror movies…

    • October 23, 2018 / 7:44 pm

      My kitchen was in a terrible state once they had finished but the kit seemed to make less mess than using the old-fashioned knives and spoons xxx

  4. flyhiee official
    October 23, 2018 / 3:11 pm

    Enjoyed reading your post well written and the pics love these pics . Thank you for sharing .

    Please shower some love

    • October 23, 2018 / 7:36 pm

      Thank you for your lovely feedback πŸ™‚

      • flyhiee official
        October 23, 2018 / 7:59 pm

        welcome <3

  5. October 23, 2018 / 8:25 pm

    OMG this kit is so cute!! I have nowhere to put a pumpkin now that I have moved into a flat!!! But I always love the smell! Pumpkin is so yummy! Greate post hunny!

    • October 23, 2018 / 8:33 pm

      Pumpkins are so yummy πŸ™‚

  6. October 25, 2018 / 4:14 pm

    That looks like so much fun! We don’t celebrate Halloween where I live, so no pumpkin carving, but I’d love to try it.

    • October 25, 2018 / 8:17 pm

      I love pumpkin carving, but if you try it, be prepared for the mess πŸ™‚

  7. October 25, 2018 / 8:54 pm

    So cute! Hope I get to do some carving this year! Great post x

    • October 25, 2018 / 10:42 pm

      Thank you so much! Good luck in your own carving creations πŸ™‚

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