If you've prepped pumpkins with little ones for Halloween, you'll know how much fun it can be.
However, once the seeds have been scooped, the danger dance begins...
Sure, you can hand out helpful Jack-o-Lantern safety tips all you want, but ultimately advice such as: "don't touch the knife," "let mommy do that," and "for the love of god, back away from the pumpkin!" typically fall on deaf ears if your kid is keen on "helping" you stab the living crap out of the gutted gourd on the kitchen table.
As an alternative, those of you with little ones are sure to appreciate the following no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas. Because when you spend three days afraid to sit on the living room sofa because your little angel forgot where she put the tiny dollar store carving tool you didn’t see her grab when you turned your back for one millisecond, nobody wins.
Here are 31 no-carve ways to jazz up a pumpkin. No band aids required.
1) Draw a face on it, using markers.
2) Cover it with stickers (Halloween-themed or glow in the dark).
3) Use self-stick Velcro and felt to create interchangeable faces.
4) Paint flowers all over it.
5) Paint it black (or blue, or green, or pink) and cover it with googly eyes.
6) Slather it with glue and roll it in glitter. If you dare.
7) Cut pictures of eyes, noses, and mouths from magazines and paste them on it to make a funny face.
8) Hammer buttons into it using tiny nails. (For younger kids, an adult should start the nails by poking them partway into the pumpkin. Kids can then finish the job with a hammer.)
9) Take it outside. Throw paint ALL OVER IT.
10) Decoupage it with light-weight fabric.
11) Paint it white and use permanent markers to draw spider webs on it.
12) Gather small containers of craft paint, open them up, and drizzle paint all over it.
13) Embellish it with decorative, patterned duct tape or washi tape.
14) Use egg carton cups to make eyes, attach cups with thumbtacks, stick some large googly eyes inside and use the stem as a nose. Call it a surprised kiwi bird.
15) Paint stripes on it using the natural separations of the pumpkin as your guidelines.
16) Glue black or gray string all over it so it looks like it was attacked by a giant spider.
17) Cover it with colourful polka dot stickers.
18) Paint it gold! Every last bit of it. Even the stem.
19) Randomly apply glue dots. Find things to stick on it like feathers, pom poms, rice, bits of paper, etc.
20) Put a hat on it!
21) Stack three pumpkins and paint them to look like a personal totem.
22) Use washable or dry erase markers to draw, erase and redraw a face.
23) Make features with masking tape. Paint it and when dry, remove the tape. We made ours teal because, allergy awareness.
24) Hammer colourful golf tees all over it.
25) Dip cotton swabs into paint and dab, dab, dab!
26) Glue paper doilies on it.
27) Make a mummy by sticking some googly eyes on it and wrapping it with gauze.
28) Poke holes with a nail and have your child insert small lengths of chenille stems (pipe cleaners) to make a hedgehog or porcupine. Use a painted egg cup and a pom pom for a snout.
The stem becomes a tail. Cute, no?
29) Make a design on it using sequins.
30) Use puffy paint and go wild.
31) Stick a Christmas bow (or bows) on it. Because, you know that's coming next, right?
Have a happy and safe Halloween!
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