Now that Halloween is this week, I may break down and let the kids carve their pumpkins. We have three small pumpkins for the kids to decorate individually, as well as one larger one for the family to do together. The kids have been begging us to turn them into jack-o-lanterns.
For the smaller ones, we have a bucket of plastic pieces that can be pushed into the pumpkins to make creatures. This is a take on the Mr. Potato Head toy. But they still would like to actually carve. Since neither my husband nor myself are very artistically talented when it comes to drawing, having a ready-made template is the way to go to ensure a good looking jack-o-lantern.
Do you know the pumpkin carving kits that can be purchased? They come with a book of templates and sometimes some plastic carving utensils. I used to look forward to this time of year to see what new template patterns would be available to try.
Thanks to the Internet, I no longer have to cruise the stores. Templates for pumpkin carving are available online and for free. All it takes it a website and a printer. You can browse different templates and then choose the ones that work best for you. One thing I like about this method is that you can bypass any scary looking templates before the kids see them, and the other is that this is a very frugal way to carve pumpkins.
Here are some of my favorite online templates for pumpkin carving.
Oh No! Pumpkin from Family Fun
This cute pumpkin can be carved using your child’s hands as part of the template, or you can simply download a completely printable version. To check it out, click here: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/feature/famf0900ohnopump/
Happy Pumpkins for Halloween from BH&G
Better Homes and Gardens Magazine offers 15 different happy pumpkin stencils to download and print. There are the classics, such as a flying witch, and some really cute ones, such as the Shy Guy. To take a look, click here: http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/pumpkin-carving/happy-pumpkins-for-halloween/?page=1
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog and caring for little ones in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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