Decorating pumpkins has always been a tradition in my family. When I was younger we carved our pumpkins, scraped out the seeds and roasted them. My mom always had us draw the face we wanted on the pumpkin and, when we were younger, she would carve out our pre-drawn faces. My mom was much more patient then I am as a mom. When it came to carving my children’s pumpkins, I realized I hated the whole routine of carving, scraping, roasting. (Especially when my husband is determined to get every single seed out of the slimy pumpkin pulp.) So every year I created a different way to decorate the pumpkin according to my children’s age and their ability.
When Sara was 2 and Joseph, 5, I bought their favorite stickers that they stuck on the pumpkins. Sara placed her Disney princess stickers all with in 2 inches of each other and on top of each other. When I showed her she could place them all over the pumpkin, she said, “then they can’t talk to one another”. So her pumpkin had a 2 inch circle of decorations.
My son loved hiking outside so one year we collected sticks, pine cones, rocks, leaves etc and decorated our pumpkins with the treasures we collected.
Painting, writing, decoupaging, gluing are all different ways we have dressed our pumpkins.
Here are a few ideas for your family.
- Monogram; I used a wooden letter, cut out decorative paper and glued it on the letter. I had some furniture tack glides in my craft area that I put glue dots on. Stuck the tacks into the pumpkin and stuck the letter on to the glue dots.
- Ribbon; Just use ribbon you have lying around the house. You can secure it with sewing pins or decoupage.
- Paper Owl; Cut 2 large circles and 2 smaller circles for the eyes, 2 sets of eyebrows, a beak, and wavy lines to represent the feathers. I adhered the pieces of paper to the pumpkin with pins.
- Decoupage; Napkins and decorative tissue are the perfect papers to decoupage. You will need a pumpkin, sponge brush, decoupage (Mod Podge), and your paper. Have at it. My craft philosophy is “PERFECTION NOT REQUIRED”!
- Buttons; Such a cute idea! You will need buttons, glue dots, and a pumpkin. Be random, make a design…whatever you are in the mood for. I placed the buttons on the dots while the dots were still on their paper.
I love this button pumpkin!