Forget the messy and dangerous ideas of carving.  Pumpkin Painting is the perfect solution to a creative dilemma!
Painting silly, goofy or scary faces or other designs can be a fun, yet relatively simple activity for children and adults.
Preschool age children can even participate in creating their own designs for their pumpkins.  You certainly can't say that about carving pumpkins!
The easiest design to paint on a pumpkin is a traditional jack-o-lantern face. But here are some other ideas for festive designs:
- silly or goofy faces
- favorite cartoon characters
- fall leaves
- scarecrow
- witch
- princess
- turkey
- spider
- ghosts
- cats
- goblin

Painting pumpkins is a very economical craft as most supplies are readily available (you probably already have some of these in your home):
- washable markers
- acrylic craft paints
- newspaper
- spray sealer
- accessories such as raffia, jewelry, hats, etc.

Before beginning, decide what design you are going to paint and trace that design onto a clean pumpkin. You can freehand the design or select one of the many designs in the ultimate e-guide for pumpkin painting, Easy Pumpkin Painting.

Once you or your child has painted their first pumpkin, chances are you’ll want to paint an entire pumpkin family to proudly display at your home.

Pumpkin Painting is an annual family tradition at our house. We hope it will be at yours as well.

Easy Pumpkin Painting is a guide that contains step-by-step instructions and color photographs of exactly how to paint the cutest Halloween pumpkins.  It also contains templates that you can use to paint your first pumpkin in about an hour!  Easy Pumpkin Painting makes painting pumpkins, well, Easy!

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The broomstick is made of rolled crepe paper with a fringed end.

The peaked hat is of orange crepe paper with fringed black hair.

Resting on the wire base with the stick thrust through is the taffee apple, which has features of licorice strips.

Besides the edible parts of this favor, you can get everything at MisterArt

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She stands guard over individual table fortunes.

You can get everything you need to make this cat from Mister Art - click below to get great deals on arts & crafts supplies

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Entrance to house:

On Hallowe'en put a sign up telling guests to knock low and slow.

Hall:

The hall should be in total darkness except for light coming from jack-o'-lanterns of all shapes and sizes on tables, and hanging from doors and ceiling, or from frame in open fire-place. The hall should be draped in black; and the person who opens the door, and those who conduct guests to dressing-rooms, should all be gowned in black.

Parlors:

Decorate parlors with jack-o'-lanterns made from apples, cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, etc., hanging them somewhere in room or place on stand, piano or mantle. Use also green branches, autumn leaves, apples, tomatoes, ears of corn—red and white—and drape room with red and yellow scrim and cheese-cloth. If possible, have an open fire in parlor—a grate fire will do. Have white portieres.

Place of mysteries :

The best for mystic rites is the barn; second best is an attic full of shadows; third best is a cellar into which guests descend immediately after removing wraps; fourth best is large hall; lastly the kitchen. If affair is held in barn, build a large bonfire in front for use of guests for after-supper sports. The place where the mysteries are performed should be decorated with gruesome things — jack-o'-lanterns, skulls and cross-bones, black draperies, witches made out of cardboard and suspended from the walls, cats, bats, owls, etc. The shades and spirits should flit about.

Dining-room:

The dining-room should have festoons of nuts, branches of oats, strings of cranberries, autumn leaves, goldenrod, odd lanterns, yellow chrysanthemums, etc. All the decorations of this room should be cheerful and suitable to the season. Charming maidens flit about serving the guests. For table center-piece use a large pumpkin with top cut off, pulp removed, and filled with water holding a large bunch of chrysanthemums or goldenrod. Bay leaves should be scattered over table and around the dishes. The menu card at each guest's plate should be of burnt leather bearing a sketch of a witch. After all unmask, lights in dining-should be turned up and room made brilliant.

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BLACK CREPE STREAMER 1-3/4"x81' HALLOWEEN, BIRTHDAY    US $2.49

When your guests arrive the door should swing open apparently unaided and the hall should be entirely dark except for a few very faint green lights that may be followed to the dressing rooms.

If your guests are not in costume, the hostess, dressed as a witch, should give each one a hat, a necktie or some other dress accessory to wear.  Two should be alike, or they may be numbered in duplicate and later matched for the first dance or game.

Decorate the living rooms with vivid orange and black.  The doorway, windows, chandelier and fireplace can all be effectively "dressed up".

The doorway shown will give any timid guest a thrill as she tries to enter the room without encountering the dangling spider.

To copy it, fasten natural branches above the door frame and suspend orange, yellow and black crepe paper moss from them, allowing it to hang very irregularly.  Make the spider of black crepe paper and wire and suspend it by fine elastic.  The web is made of string or crepe paper rope.  Attach strips of Crepe Paper Border H 6 to the sides of the door frame and place Cut-outs H 70 and H 71 (cat and owl)above the branches.

Pumpkin Cut-outs H 96, H 105 and H 73 attached to varying lengths of No. 2 Orange Streamers, may be quickly pinned in place right over the regular draperies at the windows.

The chandelier sheds a weird glow over the whole room through the long orange crepe paper fringe that surrounds it.  Strips of Border H8 radiate from the ceiling to the edge of the shade.  The border around the top of the shade is H7.  Heavy wires or light flag sticks are placed across the top of the shade and No. 3 Orange Streamers are looped irregularly on them.

The above is from the 1925 Dennison's Bogie Book (13th edition) - get your copy below:

Dennison's Bogie Book (Halloween Thanksgiving) 1925    US $14.75

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Vintage Scarecrow w/Pumpkin Halloween Favor Card/Card    US $9.99

RETRO VINTAGE HALLOWEEN Return Address Label Favor Tags    US $2.80

S/6 Crepe Paper Nut Cups~VINTAGE STYLE HALLOWEEN Favors    US $4.99

All of the Halloween Party Favors and novelties illustrated here can be easily and inexpensively fashioned with the help of the stock goods that are described on pages 30 and 31.  In many cases they are combined with inexpensive toys or packaged candy.

Cat Balloon Favor (no.1)

Cut out the mouth of an H 98 Cut-out and draw a rubber balloon through the opening.  Glue another cat's head to the back of the first one with the wooden mouthpiece between them.

Ghostly Prize Favor (no. 2)

Make a ball of white crepe paper for the head, fastening it with wire to the top of a paper bag filled with popcorn or candy.  Wrap this wire with white crepe paper before fastening it in place and make it long enough to form arms.  Tie a piece of white crepe paper around the neck, for the skirt, and add a circular piece for the cape.  Draw the ghostly features with India ink.

Witch Pencil Favor (no. 3)

Cut a piece of No. 71 Light Brown Crepe Paper with the grain into a fine fringe.  Wrap it around the end of a brown pencil and fasten it with fine wire.  Glue two Witch Cut-outs H 37 back to back, with the "broom" between them, first cutting off the cardboard broom.

Cat Score Card (no. 4)

Paste a white correspondence card to a piece of orange mat stock a little larger than the white card. Add a circular piece of black mat stock and then a square piece of orange.  Fasten an H 683 Silhouette to the center and then make a neck-tie of a bit of white paper, lettering it as shown.

Black Cat Charm Favor (no. 5)

A loop of wire is fastened between two H 586 Silhouettes and the whole smoothly covered with black sealing wax.  A bit of Green Bronze Wax is used for the eyes.  A loop of green tinsel ribbon, long enough so that the "charm" may be worn around the neck, completes it.

Cat Bag Favor (no. 6)

Make a small bag of orange crepe paper with drawstrings at the top and paste a Cut-out H 111 to the side.  A bag like this may be the container in which to present almost any small prize.

Witch Horn Favor (no.7)

Orange and black crepe paper cut in a fringe is attached to a small horn and a Witch Cut-out H 112 is fastened in place so that the mouthpiece of the horn comes at the peak of the hat. It will be more attractive if the horn itself is first covered with orange crepe paper.

The above Halloween Favor Ideas are from the 1925 Dennison's Bogie Book.  Get your own copy below.

Dennison's Bogie Book (Halloween Thanksgiving) 1925    US $14.75

Dennison's Bogie Book (Halloween Thanksgiving) 1925    US $14.75

Dennison's Bogie Book (Halloween Thanksgiving) 1925    US $14.75

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BLACK PERSIAN CAT & OWL HALLOWEEN NIGHT 6 ACEO BY CYRA    US $17.50

Littlest Pet Shop Halloween Burnt Orange OWL #431 $2sip    US $6.98

VTG CHILDS HALLOWEEN COSTUME-WITCHES/OWL/CAT    US $21.05

OWL stuffed fur FURRY ANIMAL REPLICA HALLOWEEN PROP 30    US $23.99

Vintage Halloween Cookie Cutter Set Box Cat Owl Pumpkin    US $19.99

14KT GEP Wise Owl Hand Painted Halloween Earrings    US $5.99

HALLOWEEN SCREECH OWL FARMHOUSE NRFB/MINT    US $79.99

2003 HALLMARK Halloween ZEPHYR OWL Ornament MINIATURE~~    US $4.99

NEW HALLOWEEN CERAMIC BIG EYED HOOT OWL CANDY PLATE    US $4.00

Halloween Whimsical SHEEP OWL Acrylic Magnet ~Locie    US $4.95

Halloween Witch & Cat Owl Miniature Dollhouse Picture    US $12.95

Cats Meow-Halloween-Owl in the Tavern 01-712    US $9.38

A good base for a center decoration is a cardboard box, which may be made of a round cardboard base and semi-circle of rolled cardboard, the whole held together by gummed-paper hinges.

Such a box may be covered to represent a tree stump covered with sprouting twigs and moss.

Sparkle floss, tinsel, or light green tissue paper showering down from the chandelier and veiling the centerpiece is very attractive.

A cut-out owl peers from the center, and a yellow quarter moon is suspended from the light fixture.

Place-cards would be cardboard new-moons, and candlesticks masked by brown owls.

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s1037 vintage 80s stickers sandylion halloween pumpkin    US $2.99

s1035 vintage 80s stickers sandylion halloween ghost    US $1.99

s701 vintage 80s stickers sandylion halloween pumpkins    US $1.99

VINTAGE LOT OF HALLOWEEN STICKERS MONSTERS PUMPKINS    US $5.00

Sandylion HALLOWEEN VINTAGE Stickers 4 STRIPS!    US $.99

Sandylion HALLOWEEN VINTAGE Stickers 4 STRIPS!    US $.99

Vintage 80s Rare Eureka Halloween Sticker Sheet    US $6.99

Hallmark halloween black cats stickers vintage 90s 80s    US $.99

halloween cats scarecrow lot vintage stickers 1980s    US $1.00

VINTAGE HALLMARK STICKERS *HALLOWEEN TEDDY BEARS*    US $1.35

LOT VTG Halloween Stickers - MONSTERS - 5 SHEETS    US $1.79

Vintage Sandylion Sticker Mod - Halloween Witches    US $1.29

For a children's prize centerpiece use a large pumpkin with the bottom cut out overflowing with gifts, each attached to a streamer.

Streamers extend underneath the pumpkin to each place and when the pumpkin is lifted, each child pulls out his present.

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7" Paper Mache Pumpkin Fall Decoration - Centerpiece    US $7.50

Dollhouse Miniature Halloween PUMPKIN CENTERPIECE    US $6.99

Pilgrim Prairie Doll pattern pumpkin centerpiece leaf    US $12.00

Turkey Centerpiece Pumpkin Thanksgiving Cut Sew Stuff    US $4.79

~Primitive Scarecrow Pumpkin Centerpiece PATTERN #60~    US $10.95

~Primitive Raggedy Scarecrow Pumpkin Centerpiece~    US $38.95

Brown poplin is an effective table covering, with white and orange as contrasting colors in the centerpiece and favors.

A hollowed-out pumpkin overflowing with apples, oranges, bananas and grapes makes a simple and attractive centerpiece.

A two-faced lit pumpkin will serve the double purpose of centerpiece and illumination.

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Lot 20 Vintage Die Cuts Place Cards Halloween Art Deco.    US $12.06

VINTAGE 1930's HALLOWEEN Tally/Place Card w/Ghost/JOL    US $9.00

HALLOWEEN BETHANY LOWE FLYING WITCH HAUNTING PLACECARDS    US $9.95

DEPT. 56 ALL WITCHES EVE PLACE CARDS HALLOWEEN NIP    US $9.95

Halloween Place Card Holder Witch Hat Wicth Shoes 4/set    US $27.98

Halloween Place Card Holders NEW    US $2.49

24 LOT Halloween Grave place card holder Wedding Favor    US $24.90

HALLOWEEN CERAMIC TOMBSTONE PLACECARDS SET OF 4    US $10.00

NEW 6 RIP Tombstone Halloween Party Wedding Place Cards    US $3.07

Halloween Gothic Wedding party Favors table Place Cards    US $14.99

Halloween Gothic Wedding party Favors table Place Cards    US $22.49

Halloween Gothic Wedding party Favors table Place Cards    US $29.98

To make a spiral as a support for cut-out witches, cats, bats, pumpkins, ghosts, tombstones, etc...

1. Use about 20 inches of wire for a 4-inch place card.
2. Four inches from the end, bend the wire at right angles.
3. One inch from this point bend sideways and start the spiral, holding the wire flat on the table with the 4-inch length extending straight up to insure a flat spiral.
4. About three full circles will make a strong base.
5. Wires may be wrapped with crepe paper if desired.

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