5 Easy And Unique Ways To Decorate Your Halloween Pumpkins

By Melody Chi on October 23, 2014

There may not be much space in your dorm room to show your Halloween spirit, but pumpkins are small and can single-handedly transform a bland room or apartment entryway into an impressive spooky abode.

With these creative and easy to follow guides on how to decorate your pumpkins (mostly without carving), you can show both your support for the holiday and your impeccable sense of style!

1. Glow in the Dark Pumpkin:

Glow in the dark paint makes your pumpkins otherworldly! (https://www.flickr.com)

Want to add a splash of color to the dark and stormy night? Pick up some Tulip Glow in the Dark Dimensional Fabric Paint and go wild on your pumpkin! If you need some ideas, the Ilovetocreate blog has a tutorial for how to decorate with the paint.

The Glow in the Dark paint is activated by absorbing either sunlight or black light rays, so be sure to let your finished masterpiece bask in either for a while so it can glow properly all night.

Note: The Ilovetocreate tutorial uses white plastic pumpkins as the canvases for the paint, but the author states you can use live pumpkins that are either painted white or not.

2. Chalkboard Pumpkin:

Chalkboard labels give pumpkins class. (https://www.flickr.com)

You might be tired of looking at chalkboards all day in your lectures, but take my word for it: chalkboards are much more fun to look at when they’re painted on pumpkins and ready for you to draw on!

Michaels has a step-by-step guide for how to create a classy chalkboard label on your pumpkin, complete with a list of all the tools you’ll need to make it.

Or, if you want a larger canvas than just a small label, spray paint your entire pumpkin with chalkboard paint, let it dry, and then decorate until perfect. The great thing is that you can easily banish any mistakes like annoying ghosts.

Realsimple.com has straightforward instructions here.

3. Cat Pumpkin:

You’ll have good luck with these pumpkins. (https://www.flickr.com)

You don’t always have to carve away pieces of your pumpkin, you can also add to it.

Hot gluing a Styrofoam ball on top of a mini pumpkin surprisingly makes the perfect shapes for a cat’s head and body. Slap on some black acrylic paint, pipe cleaner whiskers, and felt appendages, and you have an ingenious way to use those little pumpkins that are too small to carve.

Allyou.com has the details on how to make these creative critters. Now the only dilemma is if you find it cute or creepy.

4. Stenciled Pumpkin:

Stencils = sensational pumpkins. (https://www.flickr.com)

Not so good at the whole carving thing? Then this pumpkin is right up your alley.

Just buy or even print out a few spooky stencils (there are tons of them for free online) and spray paint them on.

Abra cadabra! You have an artistic Halloween pumpkin without any witchy magic required.

5. The Eternal Jack-O-Lantern:

The cool classic. (Image via Melody Chi.)

I couldn’t very well make a list of ways to decorate pumpkins and not include this obvious classic!

However, one drawback that always comes from actually carving your pumpkin is that it doesn’t last very long afterwards, since cutting into it exposes it to the elements, bacteria and dehydration. Before you know it, your hard work has turned into a moldy, mushy piece of squash that you’d rather trash than display.

But no black cats seem to have crossed your path, because you’re in luck!

Pumpkinpatchesandmore.org has come up with a recipe to preserve your pumpkin for as long as possible. Just mix 1 tablespoon of bleach with one quart of water and spray it on the inside of the pumpkin, as well as all the places you’ve cut.

This prohibits bacteria and mold from growing and consigning your squash to an early grave. Next, rub all the cut sections with petroleum jelly to again stop bacteria from forming and to prevent dehydration.

Now you can enjoy your carved treasure well past its previous expiration date.

Finally, if you’re ready to move on from squash, here are even more easy, do-it-yourself Halloween decorations!

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