Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas and Patterns

Entertain the neighbors with these creative pumpkin carving patterns for your Halloween jack-o'-lantern.

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Funny Face Pumpkins

Scarecrow on Duty

Video: How to Carve a Pumpkin

Beware the Pumpkins

Something to Crow About

Monster Mash

Just for Laughs Pumpkin

Tower of Pumpkin Power

Video: How to Pick a Pumpkin

Bird Brain

Rough-and-Tumble Pumpkin

Cemetery Markers

No Tricks, Just Treats

Halloween Catchphrase

Drill a Pumpkin

Set the Scene

Creature Cutouts

Pumpkins Aglow

Willard the Warlock Pumpkin

Return of the Mummy

Boo Avenue Mansion

Monogram Pumpkins

Creepin' Cat Pumpkin

Flame-Design Pumpkin Stencils

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Funny Face Pumpkins

No need to worry about your carving skills with these goofy pumpkins -- their crooked smiles are charmingly imperfect. Mix it up by scraping off a facial feature or two (rather than carving all the way through) to reveal the pumpkin flesh underneath.

Download the free patterns.

Scarecrow on Duty

Set a Halloween scene with this scarecrow display on a front porch chair or yard bench. Pose the artificial birds as desired, then wire the pieces in place to keep the display intact throughout the season.

Learn more about this project.

Video: How to Carve a Pumpkin

Get our from-the-expert tips on carving pumpkins!

Beware the Pumpkins

Letters or words carved into your pumpkins send your guests a spooky message. Carve one letter or word per pumpkin.

Learn more about this project

Something to Crow About

Create this eerie crow jack-o-lantern to set out on Halloween night. The watchful bird is perched on the sill of a "window" carved into a bright orange pumpkin.

Learn more about this project.

Monster Mash

Create this scream-worthy mummy pumpkin by carving oddly shaped slits into the surface of a green pumpkin.

Learn more about this project

Just for Laughs Pumpkin

Turn on the smiles with a goofy smiling pumpkin for Halloween this year. Crooked teeth, a big nose, and expressive eyebrows add to this jack-o'-lantern's charm.

Tower of Pumpkin Power

This impressive tower of pumpkins includes faces that are whimsical, scary, and downright silly.

Learn more about this project.

Video: How to Pick a Pumpkin

Get the best pumpkin in the patch -- check out our quick guide to the perfect pumpkin for your carving project.

Bird Brain

This jack-o'-lantern is for the birds. Download the free pattern and transfer it onto a pumpkin. Using a knife or carving tools, cut out the openings. Cut the lid with a zigzag edge. Wind wire around the feet of the artificial birds, position them as desired (using the photo as a guide), and poke the wire ends into the pumpkin to secure the birds in place.

Download the free pattern.

Rough-and-Tumble Pumpkin

Choose a dirty or not-quite-ripe pumpkin to create a face that looks like it has bumps and bruises. Transfer our free pattern to the pumpkin, then cut out the openings with a knife or carving tool. Use a knife to slice the bottoms off two gourds. Attach the gourd bottoms in the eye openings using wooden skewers. Cut a piece of cockscomb and insert into the head opening above the right eye using wooden skewers. Hot-glue candy corn to a piece of heavy paper that fits the mouth opening (the candy will melt slightly), then hot-glue the paper inside the mouth.

Download the free pattern.

Cemetery Markers

These pumpkin versions of grave markers are far more creative than the expected wooden or foam ones. Create a design on a computer, print out, enlarge, and carve into a fresh or faux pumpkin.

Learn more about this project.

No Tricks, Just Treats

Lure trick-or-treaters to the sweet stuff with this trio of pumpkins dressed as wrapped candies. The candy-lined path is sure to bring a parade of costumed ghosts, superheroes, and princesses to your door on Halloween night.

Learn more about this project.

Halloween Catchphrase

Use a trio of pumpkins to spell "boo" this Halloween. Download our free stencil and trace one letter onto one pumpkin. Gouge the letters into the pumpkins, revealing the pumpkin skin.

Download the free stencil here.

Drill a Pumpkin

Whether evenly spaced dots or random designs, this pumpkin project is a quick way to decorate for Halloween.

Learn more about this project

Set the Scene

Cast shadows on Halloween with this nighttime sky design, complete with stars, a moon, and flying bats.

Download the pattern.

Creature Cutouts

Simple shapes carved into pumpkin shells make a bold Halloween statement -- especially when you add embellishments.

Learn more about this project.

Pumpkins Aglow

Carve a whole patch of glowing jack-o'-lanterns. This twinkling arrangement of pumpkins is perfect for greeting trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Make a few polka-dot pumpkins (simply draw circles onto the pumpkin surface and carve) for a fun addition to your posse of jack-o'-lanterns.

Learn more about this project.

Willard the Warlock Pumpkin

Black iridescent marbles give this wrinkly old fellow (carved into a gray pumpkin) a spooky gaze.

Learn more about this project

Return of the Mummy

Wide swaths of orange were cut away to resemble a mummy face wrapping. An eyeball and a few stray teeth add to the creepy illusion!

Learn more about this project.

Boo Avenue Mansion

Haunt your abode with a haunted house pumpkin. Use the mini mansion as a frightening centerpiece for your next Halloween party.

Monogram Pumpkins

Let all who come knocking on your door know whose haunted lair they're approaching with a monogrammed pumpkin carved with our free alphabet stencils.

Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas and Patterns

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