Jack, The Pumpkin King
Shirt: Etsy, Jeans: Everlane, Shoes: Vans, Socks: Wegmans (In Store)
One of my absolute favorite Halloween traditions is carving pumpkins. There’s nothing about it I don’t love. Going to a pumpkin patch and picking the perfect gourd; carving out the innards & separating out the seeds to roast; designing your Jack O Lantern’s face; then setting the candle inside to show off your masterpiece! Not to mention the little friendly competition of whose pumpkin turned out the scariest, most creative, or overall best.
While I’m generally a huge fan of my own pumpkin (I’m allowed to be a bit biased towards my own creation!), I think the award for best picture with a pumpkin goes to our family dog: Sunshine. My fiance put his jack o lantern in her paws; and none of us could handle the sheer cuteness that was created.
I’ll give you a moment to finish gushing over that gorgeous pup.
Everyone okay now? Good, because I wanted to share with y’all some hacks we learned from carving with my family.
Pumpkin Carving Hacks
If you want to pencil in your design before cutting, use a dry erase marker. That way, when you’ve finished, you can wipe off any excess lines instead of dealing with stray sharpie marks all over your gorgeous gourd.
When scooping out the inside of your pumpkin, use a pan scraper or a rice paddle - it saves so much time, cleanly clears out your pumpkin, and more than halves the mess!
To cut into your pumpkin: just use a proper knife. It’s a fruit, after all - if you use the cheap kits you’re going to end up with broken tools and cut fingers.
And when you do use your proper knife to cut into your pumpkin, use faster sawing motion cuts (even if it’s not a serrated knife). This gives you cleaner lines, an easier cut, and less chance of accidentally slicing yourself (you’re way more likely to accidentally hurt yourself if you’re going with a stab/wiggle method of cutting).
Happy Pumpkin Carving and Halloween, Everyone!
And with these hacks; your gourd is sure to win your family’s friendly competition.
Who do you think won ours?
Left to right: My eldest sibling’s with a grimace & weeping eye, my mother’s with a hard-to-see stem nose, my fiance’s made from a sugar pumpkin, my younger sister’s with a twisted stem nose and glasses, and mine: the lopsided vampire. Honorable mentions: my dad, who didn’t carve but roasted the seeds & Sunshine.
xoxo, Sarah
