I decided to kick off this fall season with a little pumpkin carving get-together with my family. The weather was beautiful and we were able to relax and hang out on the back patio all evening. Young or old, creative or not, everyone loves carving pumpkins! Even the people who opt to just hang out and not carve a pumpkin are still entertained and engaged by the creations happening in front of them. The key is to make it easy. Have everything out and ready so it seems natural to sit down and start playing with a pumpkin.
Here are some tips for throwing a successful pumpkin carving party for mostly adults:
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Provide decent quality, adult-sized carving tools. I bought these for $5 and these for $10 from Target and they are of sufficient quality for the price. However if you take your pumpkins seriously a few more dollars gets you these from Amazon where the steel blades extend down through the handle like nice kitchen knives. And for $25 you can have this professional kit which should have every tool to tackle even the most elaborate designs.
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Provide Patterns. Head over to SpookMaster.com for TONS of good quality, FREE patterns you can print yourself. You can print out your favorites ahead of time and have them laying out, or you can have a computer set up for guests to browse and print the pattern of their choice.
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Provide Paint. Lots of people love to paint rather than carve pumpkins. This didn’t occur to me ahead of time, but, when my niece asked for some acrylic paint for her minion pumpkin I realized I should have put those and brushes out ahead of time. Here’s a great option for a basic paint set from Amazon. (A cheap hair dryer might be useful too for quick drying).
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Figure out ahead of time what to do with the pumpkin guts. I opted for a big roll of brown paper for covering each workstation and a big trash can nearby. Paper grocery sacks, newspapers, etc., all also all good choices.
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Provide a range of pumpkins. I personally love the little pie pumpkins because I think they make the cutest little faces. White pumpkins are another great choice for variety but can still be carved. And of course the classic orange pumpkin of medium/large size is ideal for all of the patterns from Spook Master. Having several different types, sizes, and shapes makes for a fabulous photo-op when they are all sitting piled together but, more importantly, it allows your guests to choose a pumpkin as unique as they are. :-)
And to top it all off, I made this adorable little pumpkin carving apron! Modeled by my beautiful mother. :-) This apron is for sale and is the very first item in the new Houston & Scott Etsy shop! It is 100% cotton, machine washable, and comes with a set of coordinating pumpkin carving tools. I used some of the same fabrics as My First Quilt.