the great no-carve pumpkin

Ghosts and goblins are out tonight,
Witches try hard to cause a fright.
Light a candle on the ground,
Glowing pumpkins all around!

 

Give your pumpkins a ghoulish glow without the puree pulp with these no-carve pumpkin ideas. Join us as we go beyond the rind and deck out the number one Halloween decoration, the Great Pumpkin at my shabby chic cottage. I paired up with MyHomeLifeMag.com to create this spooky, one-of-a-kind wonders.

Cinderella Pumpkin

Be your own Fairy Godmother this Halloween and Bippity, Boppity, Boo your plain pumpkin into a sparkly carriage that Cinderella would take to any ball. With a bag of sequins and a box of small head pins you can create a whismical world with a no-carve mess. Slide a pin through the center of a sequin, then press into the  skin of the pumpkin. Be creative with the design or trace a fun image or message to really give your pumpkin the glass-slipper effect.

Pumpkin Place Cards

Whether you are celebrating All Hallow’s Eve or gathered around a turkey with a tableful of blessings, give each guest a place with the stem of a pumpkin. Using a small pumpkin found at local grocery stores or farmer’s markets, cut a small slit at the top of the pumpkin to allow for the width of a place card.

Replace each guest’s name with their Halloween character or for Thanksgiving, write their name and why you are thankful for them. Not only will it add a personal touch to your seasonal pumpkin party, but it will give your less than a $1 place card a priceless meaning.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

A witch wouldn’t be a witch without her hat, just like Halloween wouldn’t be a holiday without pumpkin seeds. Those crunchy, healthy, pop-in-your-mouth snack seeds are what make the orange and black of Halloween my favorite holiday.

1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp. of cayenne pepper
Pinch of Kosher salt
Pinch of black pepper

 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean all pumpkin pulp from seeds.

2. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and mix well. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes.

Spider Pumpkin

To enjoy the nutty flavor of pumpkin seeds, you have to have one sacrificial pumpkin to carve. Make it simple by avoiding the printable masks and instead opt for a screwdriver and some black paint.

We found some novelty spider and blacklight lights at a local craft store that allow for the spider cover to pop away from the bulb. After you do a basic pumpkin carve, pop each spider away from the bulb, then with a screwdriver place random, round holes around entire pumpkin. With black paint and a small brush, paint spider webs connecting each punched hole. String each lightbulb through the backside of the holes and reattach spider or novelty light covers. Using a knife, cut a larger hole at bottom near back to feed the power cord. Plug it in and watch your front porch trick-or-treaters marvel at the spider-exploding pumpkin.

it’s all just some hocus pocus

No tricks, just treats for Halloween Monday!  From Jack-O-Lantern quesadillas to “bat” hot wings, Halloween was deliciously frightful all afternoon long. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because there is no right or wrong way to celebrate. It’s that time of the year where I can walk around the grocery store with cat ears & whiskers painted on my cheeks and people just smile and say, “Happy Halloween!” It’s all just some hocus pocus! So to continue the spooky spirit, I brewed up a batch of sinful chocolate cupcakes, homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and with a wave of my wand…

Double, double toil & trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Give them fur black as black
All the way down their back.
Beady eyes, glowing red
Legs of 8 stick out their head.
Crawling from your oven door
All your guests will scream,
“WE WANT MORE!”

Hairy Spider Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes
Chocolate frosting
Chocolate sprinkles
Eye-type candy
Black string lace licorice

 

Use your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe to bake at least a dozen cupcakes. Set aside on cooling racks. Frost cupcakes with heavy amount of chocolate buttercream frosting. Pour sprinkles in a bowl and roll frosted cupcake until completely covered.  Spook beyond your normal brown sprinkles and purchase festive holiday decorating goodies. I purchased metallic sprinkles to match the spider web cupcake liners I found at a local craft store.

Use eye-type candy to create the beady eyes. I purchased a box of Sixlets and made each spider unique with a different colored pair for each cupcake. Press into center. Cut the lace licorice into eight 4-inch pieces for each cupcake. If you can’t find black string lace licorice, just purchase black licorice and create your own legs. Use a knife to slice down the middle, then cut in half to create four legs. Press four thin pieces of licorice into each side of the cupcake to create eight legs.

Display spiders on a cupcake stand to look like a frightful family! For a really spooky way to display the spiders, carve out a pumpkin. Place a few spiders in the opening at the top to look like they are crawling out of a hollow pumpkin.