One of my favorite Halloween ideas came to me while I was carving a pumpkin. If you’re like me, you’ve seen every face in the book and are pretty sick of carving the same old jack-o-lantern. I came up with the pumpkin village to remedy this. The pumpkin village enables each person to participate by creating his/her own portion of the village. When all are finished, you combine them to create a Halloween Village!

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Pumpkin Village

 Gather Your Supplies

• Large pumpkin with a flat side
• Sharp knife & ice cream scoop
• Plywood covered with colored cellophane
• Empty paper towel tube
• Empty can (to hold dry ice)
• Broccoli, lettuce, and pineapple top (for landscaping)
• Potatoes, carrots, gumdrops (for cars)
• Round suckers, tissues, ribbon or licorice (for ghosts)
• Dry ice (for eerie fog effect)

Carving the Pumpkin House

  •  Position the pumpkin with the flat side as the front of the house. Cut the top off the pumpkin at an angle so that the lid will fit securely. Clean out the seeds and membranes with an ice cream scoop.
  •  Near the middle and slightly up from the bottom, carefully cut out a rectangle for the door. Cut a square on each side of the door to make two windows. Remove the door and each window in whole pieces.
   • Trim the window and door pieces to about 1/2” thick by carefully shaving the inside. Cut and remove individual windowpanes. Replace the windows in the pumpkin, allowing them to jut out ever so slightly. Position the door on the pumpkin as though it were just being opened.

Assembling the Village Scene

• Place the pumpkin on the plywood and the can in the bottom of the pumpkin. Use broccoli and lettuce leaves for shrubbery. To make the tree, stick several toothpicks into the bottom of the pineapple top, to stabilize it in the top of the paper towel roll. Wedge the tree securely between the pumpkins.
• Make a car from the potato, using carrot slices for wheels and gumdrops for headlights. Make ghosts by tying facial tissue over round suckers with ribbon or black string licorice.
• Just before your guests arrive, fill the can half full of hot water and add dry ice.
• The Pumpkin Village will add eeriness to any room. You can use it at parties, but it is also just a great decoration for the family to sit down and make all together for some Halloween fun!