How to Carve a Pineapple Jack-o'-Lantern for Halloween

The first step to creating a fun pineapple jack-o’-lantern is to choose a stencil. Pick one of our free Halloween carving stencils, or design a Halloween face of your own. You’ll need to size down a stencil meant for large pumpkins; we recommend making the stencil about as wide as the base of the pineapple. When you’ve got the design ready, use a Permanent Marker, ($3, Target) to draw around the template onto your pineapple. Avoid drawing too close to the top of the pineapple, since you’ll remove some of it to core and carve the pineapple later.

Just like with a pumpkin, you'll need to remove the inside of the pineapple before you can start carving. Place a pie plate under the pineapple while you carve to contain the mess—although we did find the pineapple coring process much easier than scooping out pumpkin guts!

Use a kitchen knife or a Pumpkin Carving Kit, ($16, Amazon) to carve out the shapes you traced earlier. Remove the top and use a pineapple corer to hollow out the pineapple. Gently poke the cut shapes into the pineapple to remove them.

When you’ve finished carving the pineapple, all you have to do is decide where to display it! To light the pineapple like a traditional jack-o’-lantern, place a Battery-Operated Tealight ($10 for 12-Pack, Amazon) inside the pineapple. We recommend placing the light on a small dish or bowl to keep the batteries dry inside the fruit. Then, display your pineapple carving on a Halloween mantel or set it on the front porch for all trick-or-treaters to see. To keep your carved pineapple fresh, store it in the refrigerator when not displaying.