"Extreme Pumpkineer" Tom Nardone

Wanna jazz up your jackolantern this year? Want it to stand out and be more of a piece of temporary art work for your house or a table centerpiece at your party? Then you need the advice of Tom Nardone, a dad known as the "Extreme Pumpkineer." He's also the author of three books (Extreme Pumpkins, Extreme Pumpkins II and Extreme Halloween) on radical jackolanterns and other Halloween fun for your house from food to costumes and scary tricks to really freak out the neighbors! 

This year Tom is making his popular pumpkin carving patterns FREE at www.extremepumpkins.com. I asked Tom for some ideas for jackolanterns and other Halloween excitement for young kids...

Examiner: What's your favorite part of Halloween?
Tom: I like Halloween night when the kids come around. It is a rare occasion when the entire neighborhood does something together. I find that to be lots of fun. My wife and I try to give out something really great each year, and I like the looks on everyone's faces when they get a great prize.

Examiner: What age do you recommend for starting to carving pumpkins - with parental supervision of course?
Tom: At 2 and a half I started my son with Goop Scooping. I gave him a pumpkin and an ice cream scoop and let him have at it. Kids love to make a mess and pumpkin carving makes a pretty big one.

At 3 and a half I had him separate the pumpkin seeds from the pulp, that make roasting the seeds much easier. 
He is Four and a half now and he is allowed to use a non-sharp pumpkin carving tool.  That is the type of tool that you find in the $2.99 pumpkin carving kits.  I supervise.  He is also old enough to draw a face on the pumpkin using dry-erase markers, we can then carve the face together. 
Five year olds can usually carve the shape of the face on their own if the design is simple enough. 
Six year olds can usually fully scoop out a pumpkin.  It takes patience and a bit of strength to complete the job. 
By 8 years old, if a kid really wants to do it, they can usually carve a jack-o-lantern style pumpkin all by themselves. 

I use power tools when I carve pumpkins, I usually don't let kids handle them until they are 11 years old or so, earlier if they have been in the boy scouts and have acquired their Totin' Chip card (knife safety.)

Examiner: What are three easy but cool and unusual young kids can use on their pumpkins?
Tom:

1. Pumpkin guts make a fun accessory. They can become vomit, snot, and all sorts of other things. The seeds can be used as sesame seeds for a giant hamburger bun, seeds can also be tears.
2. Other vegetables - Carrots for horns, red peppers for a tongue, ears made from broccoli. There is lots of room for imagination here and a trip to the farmers' market can be lots of fun.
3. I use corn syrup and red food coloring to make fake blood, kids think that is lots of fun to play with. It does tend to attract flies though.

Examiner: Love the jackolantern who is "throwing up" guacamole. Little boys will delight in that idea in your book. Any other ideas along this line that are fun but not scary for younger Halloween lovers?

Tom: I like to make a mohawk out of carrots, it was in book 2. I cut holes in the pumpkin with a drill and then poke the carrots out from the inside. Sometimes I add some face piercings and an aggressive snarl and I have a punk rock pumpkin (a punkin).

Sometimes at festivals I make a werewolf by using chocolate twizzlers for the facial hair.

Kids also seem to like the full-diaper pumpkin (book 2). It is a pumpkin that is carved to look like a baby. It has a diaper on that is overflowing with pumpkin goop. Yuck! 

Examiner: You've made a bunch of great carving patterns and now have them free on your website. What are the top five you suggest for young kids - think under 8?
Tom:

• Batman
• Spiderman
• Autobots
• Some of the Grimmaces (there are 10 patterns that are just silly faces)
• Foul Ball (for kids that like baseball)
• Booger Eater
• The Alien (uses a green squash)
• The Doll Eater (for girls who have recently outgrown Barbie)
• Punkin

Examiner: A fun idea in your book is the scarecrow on the porch. It is simple and scary but not too scary for trick or treaters. Any more ideas like this for the whole family?

Tom: I also like the trash can costume. It involves cutting up a trash can to create a transformer-like suit. The wearer gets to hide out on the front lawn (afterall, it is leaf season) and then when trick or treaters come along... Pow! you scare them. It is on the ExtremePumpkins.com website and on Page 19 of Extreme Halloween. 

*All photos courtesy Extreme Halloween and used with permission*