I love almost every holiday, and Halloween is no different! One, I love any excuse to get family and friends together, and two, I love the tradition of carving pumpkins, making costumes and eating yummy treats together. As fun as pumpkin carving can be, it can also turn into a big mess and take away from the fun. Here are some tips to help you plan a fun, festive, low-stress, pumpkin carving party you and your guests will love.
First, start with your guest list and invite guests providing them with the party details. This year, our party was BYOP-Bring Your Own Pumpkin. All party guests arrived with their own pumpkin or pumpkins and everything was set up for them to get to work. Second, if possible, pick an afternoon or evening warm enough to work outside. I don’t know about you, but over here, pumpkin carving can get messy and being outside helps with the mess and clean up. Luckily, we have an outdoor chiminea to help keep everyone nice and warm, especially when the sun goes down. I’m thinking of setting up a station to make s’mores right by the fire next year.
Next, set up a carving table for your guests to work and have easy access to all the tools they will need for carving. Here’s a little tip, cover the table with a plastic, disposable table-cloth. You can find them at Target, Party City, even the Dollar Store. This will save you so much time when cleaning up! Have guests dump their seeds and pumpkin guts directly onto the table and when everyone is done you can wrap up the plastic table cover with all the pumpkin guts inside and toss right into the trash. Easiest clean up ever!
I like to have tool stations on the table for easy access. I used mason jars I had around the house and filled them with pumpkin carving necessities, knives, picks, pumpkin scrapers, large spoons and scissors. We also had a station to carve your pumpkin using a power drill! I’ll have to write a separate post on how to do this because the pumpkins came out awesome and the drilling method is so easy and saves so much time if you are in a hurry. If possible set up several tool stations along the table so everyone can work at the same time. I always have a book of patterns for guests to look through and pick out a design. I’ve gotten smart and made copies of the patterns so I’m not looking for new patterns or buying a new book every year. Make sure to have candles on hand to light up your pumpkins and you are all set!
Finish up the fun with festive holiday treats. My best advice is to keep it simple. This year I went with pizza, salad and Halloween caramel apples. Easy, festive and lots of fun!
Hope all your traditions are off to a great start and these tips help you plan a little Halloween fun!
