It's pumpkin season! Pumpkins are good for so much more than just jack-o-lanterns and pumpkin pies. You can use them for crafting, decorating, education and so much more.
Here's 35 wonderful ways to use pumpkins around the house...
(Note: Examiner sometimes hyperlinks popular words. To avoid confusion, my links have an *asterisk to take you to my suggested projects and ideas.)
Outside:
1. Carve your house numbers in them and light them up with votive candles for guests to find your home.
2. Give kids golf tees and mallets and let them do pumpkin pounding.
3. Carve your family's last name in a pumpkin and light it up.
4. Hollow out a pumpkin and use it as a planter for fall flowers like mums or asters.
5. Draw a pattern of dots with a Sharpie on pumpkins and allow kids to drill holes (with proper instruction and supervision) to make *luminaries.
6. Line your walkway with lit pumpkins (luminaries, jack-o-lanterns, etc.) at night.
At the dinner table:
7. Chop the top off a pumpkin, clean it out and use it as a soup tureen.
8. Use a hollowed out pumpkin as a vase for fresh or dried flowers. Insert a clean, recycled can that's lower than the top of the pumpkin to hold your water and arrangements.
9. Cut the top off a pumpkin and roast it (cut side down) in a baking pan at about 450 for about an hour or until fork tender. Fill with your favorite casserole and serve. As you scoop out servings, scoop a little of the pumpkin's inner flesh. Casseroles featuring wild rice, cheese and veggies are especially nice in pumpkins, and salty dishes complement pumpkin's sweet flavor well. To make the most of your roasting time, consider roasting several other pumpkins to *make puree at the same time.
10. Use a pumpkin to serve appetizers. Arrange cheese cubes, olives, fruits, veggies, etc. on skewers and stick them into the outside of a pumpkin.
For kids' crafts:
11. Let kids use mallets to adorn pumpkins with decorative nails and tacks in designs of their choice.
12. Make *glittered pumpkins.
13. Give kids playdough to make changeable jack-o-lantern faces.
14. Paint pumpkins black, allow to dry, and then let kids etch designs in them.
15. Decorate pumpkins *with hardware.
16. Let kids draw faces on pumpkins with washable markers and then use a wet cloth to wipe them off and start again (careful, this can get messy!).
17. Give kids Mr. Potato Head pieces to press into pumpkins to make their own funny faces.
18. Use a hammer, nails and yarn to do *pumpkin nailing.
19. Cut the tops off of miniature pumpkins and attach tiny flags to make *pumpkin boats.
20. Decoupage pumpkins with pretty papers or even printed napkins.
21. Give kids paint to decorate their pumpkins.
22. Decorate pumpkins with *melted crayons.
For educational purposes:
23. Use pumpkin seeds for *math manipulatives, graphing and more.
24. Cut the top off a small pumpkin, fill with dirt and plant a pumpkin seed. Have kids keep it watered and see what happens.
25. Make a *pumpkin diorama.
26. Have kids estimate the weights of their pumpkins (allow them to lift various other things and weigh them in order to try to guess) and compare them to their actual weights. Have them figure the differences and see who came closest.
As decorations inside:
27. Cover a pumpkin *with lace for a sophisticated halloween look.
28. Carve *flame patterns in a group of pumpkins and arrange them in your fireplace with candles inside.
29. Slip a pumpkin into the leg of a pair of patterned lacy pantyhose for an instant glamour look.
30. Cut the top off pumpkins and clean them out, then paint them in colors that match your decor. Use them to hold floral arrangements, branches, cattails and other autumn offerings.
31. Drill holes in decorative patterns, insert candles and use them in clusters for lighting.
For family fun:
32. Use small pumpkins as bowling balls and paint plastic bottles white (with black eyes) to make ghost bowling pins.
33. Use a large jack-o-lantern as a fun photo prop for babies. Line the inside with a clean dishtowel or cloth diaper and put baby inside for a darling seasonal picture.
34. After Halloween, let kids use hammers to demolish jack-o-lanterns for some delightfully messy fun.
35. Want to go all out? Build a *pumpkin catapult!
Of course, there's also jack-o-lanterns and pumpkin pie, along with zillions of wonderful recipes...
