I Scoured 30 Years of BHG Magazines to Find Our Best Pumpkin Designs—Here Are Our Top 13

We scoured our archives to round up our favorite pumpkin decorating ideas.

We’ve shared a lot of pumpkin ideas since we first published our magazine 102 years ago. Cooking, decorating, and growing pumpkins—we’ve covered it all. And while we’ve been sharing Halloween stories and pumpkin poems (see our October 1939 poem about “Jack-o’-Lantern Fever”) since the early aughts, it wasn’t until the ’90s when our pumpkin decorating content really took off. So, I took a trip down memory lane and scoured the archives from the past 30 years to find some of our favorite nostalgic tricks and techniques. Below, you’ll find 13 of our best pumpkin decorating ideas, whether you’re carving, painting, or embellishing your timeless orange squash.

Detail-Oriented

Channel your inner Project Runway contestant with these ribbon-wrapped pumpkins. They’re easy to make—no carving tools required. Cut lengths of ribbon and trim to wrap from stem to bottom. Then apply quick-setting glue along the pumpkin’s natural ribs to adhere the trim.

Leaf It Out

Decorate your doorstep with a design that works all season. Trace a maple leaf or our template onto your pumpkin. Etch away the skin with a linoleum cutter, but be careful not to completely pierce through the rind.

Tip

To keep the stem intact, open and clean the pumpkin from the bottom.

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Fall for Foraging

Tree huggers, rejoice! The materials list for this nature-inspired pumpkin display is down-to-earth, literally. Collect leaves, dried flowers, and sticks. Glue your natural materials on pumpkins to create different patterns and shapes.

Related: 21 Ideas for Outdoor Pumpkin Decor for Halloween and Fall

Fresh-Cut Flowers

Turn to your late-season blooms as inspiration for these etched floral motifs. Add detail by etching away just the skin in some spots and carving completely through the rind in others. For a pumpkin that sits better on its side, use the stem as a blossom center and carve petals around it. 

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Fringe Forward

Do you love to throw a boo bash? Tinsel wigs (on Amazon) turn these gourds into party animals. Cut a hole in the wig to slip over the stem and give it a trim. For eyes, use table tennis balls with black sticker pupils and halved mini cupcake liners as eyelids. Cut teeth from craft foam and secure everything with glue dots. 

Making Faces

These ghouls just want to have fun. Use our templates to trace the goofy grins and carve them out, but don’t punch out the pieces immediately. Tape off the stems and fill hollowed pumpkins with crumpled paper towels before you spray-paint the surface (so paint doesn’t get inside the pumpkin). Once dry, remove paper towels and the cutouts.

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Related: 25 White Pumpkin Ideas That Add Elegance to Fall Decor

Let Me Go!

Jostle your funny bone with this jack-o’- lantern that just captured a skeleton. Carve the word and eyes using our templates, then add posable skeleton hands from a Halloween store. 

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Skull Cavern

If you love scary movies, haunted houses, and frightful fun, this eerie pumpkin might be for you. Trace the stencil onto your squash. Etch the teeth and round border, then carve away the eyes, nose, and cheeks. Wind a toy snake through the eye sockets to up the fear factor.

Tip

Pick a ‘Blue Hokkaido’ squash or Hungarian blue pumpkin for a bone-gray base. 

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Related: The Dark Academia Aesthetic Might Be Our Favorite Halloween Style Yet

Mosaic Masterpiece

Cut a variety of geometric shapes out of bright-color tissue paper for the stained glass-like pumpkin. Paint pumpkin with a 2:1 blend of decoupage medium and water, then apply shapes.

Color Pops

These ’80s-inspired gourds are totally tubular. Use acrylic paint on faux pumpkins so they last from year to year. Color-block, then add geometric details.

Abstract Artistry

Express your Jackson Pollock side with these splattered squash. Tape the stems, paint a base coat with craft paint, then dip a brush in paint and flick.

Related: 19 No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas for a Safe Family Project

Check Mates

Checkerboard print is a classic and adds a little spirit to these stoop-sitters. The simple cutouts, when grouped in patterns, create a satisfying, clean-lined look. To achieve same-size rectangles, draw your design on printer paper (the thin paper will bend over the pumpkin’s curves), cut out, and trace onto your pumpkin.

Sophisticated Spiders=

Embrace simplicity with these not-so-creepy crawlers. A sleek white base is the perfect backdrop for thin-legged wire spiders. When night falls, they’ll light up your porch—the spiders’ bodies are made with LED string lights. 

Pumpkins by the Numbers

While I focused my searches on decorating ideas from the past 30 years, I couldn’t help but wonder about some BHG history, including when was the first time we mentioned pumpkins (July 1922) and did people decorate pumpkins back then in the same way we do now (the short answer is no). Here are some pumpkin facts and findings:

• We’ve published more than 450 stories that use the word “pumpkin.”
• In 1928, we mentioned jack-o’-lanterns for the first time, and advised swapping a real candle with a flashlight—a tip we still stand by, but now you can use a flameless LED candle.
• We featured our first set of painted pumpkins in 1961.
• We’ve published 23 covers featuring a pumpkin (including our most recent October issue), but the first time the squash starred on our cover was November 1949.
• In 2000, we rolled out our pumpkin carving templates, which are still wildly popular today. In fact, it’s still our most-read Halloween story.

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