Pimped Out Pumpkins

I'm miss Autumn. I miss the leaves turning and falling from trees to reveal their eerie skeletal branches. I miss the sun setting early and the chill in the air. I miss pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins used to be a yearly event but these days with our busy schedule it's sometimes hard to find the time to carve one pumpkin let alone several.

We go pumpkin shopping twice in the Fall. First stop is to the local Hospice where they offer a wondrous variety of pumpkins donated by a local greenhouse, The Bloomin' Idiot (don't ya just love that name?). This is where we pick up some of the more unusual varieties that we usually leave uncarved to decorate the yard through Thanksgiving.

Our second trip is to the Sunnyside Pumpkin Patch for carving pumpkins. First we go through the corn maze then it's on to sling shot pumpkins and play some pumpkin themed games. After a quick bite we grab a wagon and make our way through the pumpkin patch in search of the perfect pumpkins.

There's no shortage of pumpkin carving inspiration on the web. I looked at pumpkin carvings yesterday until my eyes were about to bleed. We could have a blog solely about pumpkin carving and never run out of inspirations (hmmm now there's an idea). Simply put, there is no excuse for not carving when you have great resources such as these:

Here's a twist on traditional pumpkin carving. Wired.com had a contest for the coolest Geek O'Lanterns.

Tom over at ExtremePumpkins.com knows how to think outside the pumpkin. He's the one responsible for the well known Puking Pumpkin, Mooning Pumpkin, Territorial Pumpkin and many other twisted creations. (Pick up his books too!)


Surely only the most elite in the world of pumpkin carving could create such a masterpiece as this full size skeleton!? If you want to give it a try head over to mcragheads tutorial on Industructibles.com.


Did you know there was a pumpkin carving forum? Well, you do now. If you want to trade patterns, get tips on carving and growing pumpkins or just show off your skills pay a visit to the Pumpkin Wizard at CarvingPumpkins.com. (Jack Sparrow pumpkin by AlexW can be found in the Your Best Carvings thread.)


If you just can't get it together and carve your own then we have the solution! MasterpiecePumpkins.com offers precarved artificial pumpkins for purchase. I am seriously considering the Frankenstein's Wedding collection show below.


Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to carving pumpkins. I'm sure we'll revisit this in future blogs but right now I have to run. I have an appointment with my pumpkin decorator to pick out patterns for 2009.