25 Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas for Cool Jack-o'-Lanterns

Fire Up the Pumpkin Patch

Your Halloween party will be lit this year when you carve an assortment of fiery pumpkins and arrange them in a heap, campfire-style. Our free pumpkin stencils let you easily recreate the look in your backyard. Add battery-operated candles to this pumpkin carving idea to light them up at night for a really hot design!

Double the Fun

Paint a pumpkin black and carve a web-shaped opening as the backdrop for this spiderweb, created with tiny nails and white string. For a fun pair of pumpkin carving ideas, display it with a contrasting painted white orb shouting "BOO!" Find letter stencils online or at a local crafts store to create this fun duo.

Use Metallic Spray Paint

Create this stylish setup in a flash by decorating pumpkins with white and metallic spray paint. For a bit of candlelit glow, this easy pumpkin carving idea repeats simple shapes around the tops of the pumpkins.

To carve the pumpkins, hollow out pumpkins of various sizes, shapes, and textures andspray them with black paint. Next, spray silver and gold metallic paint over the black paint, covering about one-half to two-thirds of each pumpkin. For a clean look, spray the stems of the pumpkins, too. Group them together on your porch for a shiny alternative to traditional orange pumpkins.

Pile Up the Pumpkins

Ready, set, stack! Colorful pumpkin carving ideas are creative and shine with personality, especially when you match the pumpkin face ideas to each gourd's size, color, and shape. Use darker pumpkins for scowling looks and lighter ones for more friendly jack-o'-lanterns. The smallest pumpkins can be carved with cute baby faces.

1. Hollow out four pumpkins in various shapes, colors, and sizes.
2. Transfer our free pumpkin stencils to the pumpkins and use a knife or carving tools to cut out all patterns except the eyebrows—use a gouging tool for those.
3. Stabilize the bottom pumpkin with rocks or sand.
4. Stack the pumpkins from largest to smallest, leaving lids with stems off on all but the top pumpkin.

Celebrate a Birthday

These pumpkin ideas are ready to party! Download the free printable pumpkin carving stencils and carve out the smiling faces. Shape scrapbook paper into cones to make a variety of tall and short hats, then use tape to secure the paper in cone shapes and decorate with an assortment of patterned paper circles. Trim some of the hat edges with paper fringe for extra festive pumpkins. Finally, hot-glue the hats to the heads of the funny pumpkin faces.

Watch Out for Pirates

Arrr, matey! Warn guests that they might have to walk the plank with this eerie pumpkin carving idea—a skull-and-crossbones. Etching areas of the skull (rather than puncturing through the pumpkin walls) gives a white pumpkin additional texture and depth. Download the free pumpkin stencils and get started on this fearsome pirate flag motif. If you want to keep your creation, get a faux pumpkin at a crafts store that you can store with the rest of your Halloween decorations when the holiday is over.

Say Yes to Junk Food

These grinning pumpkin carving ideas are perfect for the junk food lover in your life. To create the laughing pumpkins, cut out your favorite design. Add embellishments to the smiling faces by gluing on a licorice mustache, taffy tongue, and cheese puff hair. They're deliciously cute!

Insert a Potted Plant

This pumpkin carving idea is a creative way to add a tabletop decoration. Clean out the inside of your pumpkin and carve any jack-o'-lantern you like. Remove the top and tuck a potted plant inside to give it foliage hair. Be sure to pick a pumpkin the right size to allow the plant to spill over the top. When watering the plant, be careful not to get the pumpkin wet so it doesn't go bad.

Carve a Wise Owl

Mix up your repertoire of pumpkin face ideas with our tall, skinny pumpkin carving idea of a spooky owl pumpkin.

1. Paint the pumpkin white to form the body.
2. Transfer our free pumpkin templates for the eyes, beak, and chest feathers onto the pumpkin.
3. Use a gouge to partially dig out the feathers into the rind, then trace and cut out the ear and wing patterns on cardstock.
4. Secure them to the pumpkin with straight pins.

Make a Peek-a-BOO! Pumpkin

Liven up your Halloween scene with an adorable pumpkin carving idea that's creative and embellished pumpkin. We love the silly face peeking out of this carved pumpkin, cautiously checking to see who's stopping by to visit. Trick-or-treaters will love this little guy, especially his big googly eyes!

To make this easy pumpkin carving:

1. Cut along the top of your pumpkin to make a lid; set aside.
2. Hollow out your pumpkin.
3. Using our hand pattern, trace two hands onto black felt and cut out. Using crafts glue, attach the two hands to the pumpkin.
4. Adhere large googly eyes in place using crafts glue.

Share a Smile

A white Lumina pumpkin works perfectly for this skeleton pumpkin filled with fall flowers. Use this pumpkin carving idea for a doorstep decoration or festive fall centerpiece. To make it, cut out large circles for the eyes, a small triangle for the nose, and a line for the mouth that's just big enough for light to shine through. Small vertical teeth slits finish the skeleton grin. For a longer-lasting arrangement, use dried flowers, either made from your garden or bought at a local shop.

Unlock Pumpkin Fun

Open the door to Halloween with these funky, old-fashioned skeleton key pumpkins. Transfer the free printable pumpkin carving stencils to your pumpkins and use a knife or carving tool to cut out the two smaller key designs. A gouging tool easily carves the large key design into your pumpkin.

Create a "Knock on Wood" Pumpkin

Make trick-or-treaters take a second look at this pumpkin carving idea, a creative design that looks like a spooky tree trunk. Download the free stencil and transfer it onto your pumpkin. Use a gouging tool to carve the words and wood grain; use a knife or carving tool to cut out the knots. Once you've learned how to use a gouging tool for this creative design, come up with your own phrases to create other pumpkins using the same wood grain—"trick or treat," "beware of ghosts," or your favorite Halloween greeting.

Invite Mice to Your Yard

This cheesy and easy pumpkin carving idea uses a drill as a carving tool and a few inexpensive props. Use 1/2- and 1-inch flat wood bits to cut various large holes in a white pumpkin (or regular pumpkin painted pale yellow). Then add plastic mice in and around the pumpkin for a Halloween display that'll make guests squeak in surprise!

Feature a Fanciful Birdcage

This pumpkin decorating idea transforms an ordinary pumpkin into a pretty birdcage this fall. To make it, transfer our free pumpkin template onto a white artificial pumpkin. Then, cut out the areas between the cage bars, including the doors, using a knife or carving tools. Add small decorative birds, complete with seasonal black feathers, to make this cute spot a place to call home.

Hand-Make a Haunted House Pumpkin

Creating this spooky haunted mansion pumpkin only looks difficult! Transfer the free pumpkin carving stencils to the pumpkin and use a knife or carving tools to cut out. Paint the house black—that's it! The glow coming through the windows casts a magical illumination.

Tip Your Hat to Halloween

This pile of painted pumpkin decorations can be made with items from around the house. Ask the kids to pick out a hat they don't wear anymore to add to the design so they can be part of the fun.

1. Pick out three flat pumpkins and remove the stems.
2. Carve a hole down the centers and insert a wooden dowel so that they stay stacked.
3. Paint on facial features.
4. Outfit one pumpkin with an old cap, braid yarn, and tie with ribbon for another, and use a Halloween wig or craft fur for the third's "hair."

Stick with a Classic

Your Halloween pumpkin decorations wouldn't be complete without a few traditional jack-o'-lanterns. So, go back to basics with our classic pumpkin carving idea. To carve the pumpkin, download our free pumpkin stencil and enlarge or reduce the size to fit your pumpkin. This jolly, grinning jack-o'-lantern is a perfect addition to any Halloween home style.

Pay Tribute to Your Furry Friends

Dogs are part of many families and love to be included in every celebration. Pay homage to your fur babies with this year's pumpkin decorations. We've highlighted America's favorite breed here, but we also have 23 other dog pumpkin stencils. Prefer cats? No problem—we've got plenty of pumpkin carving ideas for you!

Scare Up a Ghostly Pumpkin

Grab a white gourd and carve this ghostly pumpkin face idea—no knives required!

• Use a rubber mallet to tap out the large circles with a metal biscuit cutter.
• Tap out smaller circles from those scrap pieces with an apple corer for the pupils and teeth.
• Attach the pupils and teeth with toothpicks and dribble some pumpkin seeds out of its mouth for a final touch.

Decorate for the Birds

This jack-o'-lantern is for the birds. Try this cute and easy pumpkin carving idea this Halloween. If you have a birdbath to display this pumpkin, even better. Don't be surprised if some real flying friends stop by to see what's happening!

• Transfer our free pumpkin pattern to the pumpkin of your choice and cut it out with a knife or carving tools.
• Cut the lid with a zigzag edge.
• Wind wire around the feet of the artificial birds, position them as desired, and poke the wire ends into the pumpkin to secure the birds in place.

Try Carving Pumpkin Houses

Mice—or other tiny critters—might come trick-or-treating when you set up miniature haunted houses made from plump pumpkins as outdoor Halloween decorations. To make it, hollow out three pumpkins—one medium, one tall, and one fat and squat. Transfer the free patterns to the pumpkins and cut them out with a knife or carving tools. To enhance the details, use a Sharpie to draw additional designs, including shutters, doors, and fences.

Crow About It

Create this eerie crow pumpkin carving idea to set out on Halloween night. The watchful painted bird is perched on the sill of a "window" carved into a bright orange pumpkin. The 3-D effect is a spooky touch.

Mummify Your Gourd

Make this scary mummy pumpkin by carving oddly shaped slits into the surface of a green or white pumpkin. Then try this pumpkin face idea: Adding piercing black marble eyes will keep any trick-or-treater on their best behavior. For an even creepier look, try red marbles instead.

Add Some Shine

A handful of gold screws from the hardware store is all it takes to create this unique Halloween pumpkin. To make, draw a bat shape with a washable marker. Fill in with screws until the shape is full. Use a damp towel to remove any marker that shows. Try this technique with more shapes, like ghosts, witches, or spooky trees.