Halloween Ideas: Diy Decorations

DIY Halloween Decoration Ideas

Halloween is so much fun! The holiday seasons begins with hayrides, bonfires, and pumpkin patches. To get you into the holiday spirit, we're sharing some Halloween decor ideas that you can make at home or purchase online at Oriental Trading and display around your party area. Make homemade Halloween lights to show off your festive Halloween decor. Enjoy!

Oriental Trading supplied these items in exchange for a post. 
This posts contains affiliate links for your convenience*

Jacob's Orchard, New Castle: One Tank Trip for Fall Family Fun from Indy

Fun Fall Family Activities in Indiana: Apples

Looking for something different to do this Fall? Try taking a trip to Jacob's Orchard in New Castle, Indiana. This little orchard brings the past and present together in perfect family fun harmony. Jacob's is a little over an hour from Indianapolis but worth the scenic drive.

Jacob's Apple Orchard in New Castle, Indiana.

The quaint family farm and orchard offers the traditional fare of pumpkins, apples,  jellies and jams at a reasonable price. However, once inside the store, follow your nose to the mini-doughnut factory, where you can order a bag of cider doughnuts made to order. Grab a doughnut and an apple slushie and head for the fun!

Allow two to three hours to enjoy the farm. Enjoy a hayride to the pumpkin patch, pick your own apples, feed the goats, climb through the inflatable train, explore the corn maze, and race to the top of the straw pyramid.

Fall Family Fun: Straw Pyramid, Hayride, Maze in Henry County Indiana.

Be sure to bring a sack lunch to enjoy at the picnic area adjacent to the inflatable haunted house. Jacob's offers school field trips and group tours too.

Plan ahead, the orchard is near Summit Lake State Park which offers many family programs, fishing, and beautiful fall foliage.

Recommended Reading:

Things to do in Indiana

Anderson Orchard in Mooresville, Indiana

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

Apples by Gail Gibbons

Make your own Donuts at Home

Make Persimmon Wine at Home

Pumpkin Mania: 12 DIY Things to do with PUMPKINS

12 things you can do with your favorite, fall gourd: the Pumpkin

DIY Pumpkin Carving Crafts.

There are so many things you can do with gourds! I like pumpkins, p-p-p-p pumpkins. I like pumpkins 'cause pumpkins are so fun! Pumpkins aren't just for carving.

1.   Happy Accident Painting with Gourds and pumpkins
2.   Creative Pumpkin Activities from Hands on as we Grow
3.   Pumpkin Eating Dinosaur
4.   Cute Online Pumpkin Carving
5.   The original Pumpkin Chalkboard :-)
6.   Phineas and Ferb Pumpkin Carving Templates
7.   Fall Funtastic: Pumpkin Patches, Haunted Houses, and Fall Fun
8.   Harvest Pumpkin Skillet Recipe
9.   How to make an easy kid size scarecrow
10. Song about Pumpkin Pie, Over the River and Through the Woods.
11. Halloween Turnip? The Legend of the Jack-o-Lantern
12. Snowman Pumpkin Decorating

Recommended Reading:


The Three Friends and the Pumpkins by Tomie dePaola

The Biggest Pumpkin Ever

Halloween Turnip? Why do we carve Jack-O-lanterns and How to Carve a Pumpkin

Ever wonder why we carve pumpkins on Halloween? 

Why isn't the cartoon called, "It's The Great Turnip, Charlie Brown?" And, why is it called a Jack-o-lantern anyway? Scroll down to find out how the pumpkin carving tradition began. Enjoy!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Turnip Jack-o-lantern.

Halloween Legend and Folklore

The jack-o-lantern is named after Jack, of course. He needed a lantern. Poor Jack he drank too much. His 18th century, Irish neighbors considered him a drunk and a miser, so they called him Stingy Jack. 

Apparently, Jack invited the devil over for a drink. He tricked the devil into paying (read more about this legend from TLC).  Of course, the devil was angry and he vowed to come back for Jack. Various tales tell the story a bit differently, but it ends with Jack hallowing out a turnip, inserting a burning coal ember, and using it to light his way through HELL or to keep the devil at bay. Afterward, Irish families carved turnip lanterns to keep Jack's ghost away. Thus, the Jack-o-lantern was born.

How to carve a pumpkin.

Once the Irish immigrants saw the pumpkin, they knew the larger veggie would be easier for Jack to see.

Do other countries carve pumpkins?  Here is a little tutorial for turnip and pumpkin carving in case you're new to the tradition. MARTHA STEWART CARVED TURNIPS

Why do we carve pumpkins?

  Grab a grand pumpkin or turnip.

Carved Turnips.

Get a big carving knife, insert about 3" from the stem. It's difficult to cut, you must poke the knife in and wiggle it a little, pull it out, and then begin again until you've completed the circle. 

Once the top is removed you can begin cleaning your pumpkin. Just dive in with your hands and a large spoon and scoop the stringy goo and seeds out. Only pie pumpkins are edible, but the seeds of all pumpkins can be toasted for a yummy snack.

Pumpkin Seeds waiting for roasting.

At first, the turnip seems like it's impossible to carve, but practice makes perfect. Score a ring inside the top layer (from where you removed the lid) and use your knife or a sturdy spoon to scrape out the insides. Leave about a 1/4 inch ring of flesh.

Turnip Jack-o-lanterns ready for candles.

Draw a fun face or artsy, spooky picture onto the veggie. Insert Knife, pumpkin carving tool or even a screwdriver and cut. This is not fun- not for you, not for the littles. It's difficult, but once you've got a good slice going the piece will start to loosen. Let the littles place their hands inside the pumpkin/turnip and push out with their thumb. Oh what fun! It's like a little jigsaw puzzle.

How to carve a pumpkin: Digging out pumpkin guts and seeds.

Pumpkin clean inside and ready for a candle.

Keep your pumpkin dry! If you keep it in the house it lasts longer. Pumpkin Preservation Experiment. We sprayed ours with vinegar then wiped the excess liquid and patted the rest dry (it didn't work). Glue and Petroleum Jelly are only myths- see the preservation link. 

Decorate gourds: Happy Meal Stickers.

Mayhem stylin' with pumpkins.

Pumpkin Decorating Supplies: Stickers from a Happy Meal, Carving ideas, Battery powered Votives from Dollar Tree.

We like to decorate our pumpkins with stickers or felt to keep them thru Thanksgiving season. Don't believe me? Here is our snow pumpkin we decorated for CHRISTMAS with our snowman kit.

Decorate a pumpkin like a Snowman.

Ahh... Halloween, I love you.


Recommended Reading:

The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown

Extreme Pumpkin Carving, Second Edition Revised and Expanded: 20 Amazing Designs from Frightful to Fabulous

October Calendar of Special Days

3 FREE Disney Phineas Ferb Pumpkin Carving Stencil Printable Pages Activities for Kids

Disney Phineas and Ferb Activities and Pumpkin Carving for Kids 

Phineas and Ferb! We've got 3 cool Pumpkin Carving Template Patterns from Disney! You'll have a blast carving a Perry the Platypus pumpkin with this traceable pattern from Disney. Click the link below for a free Phineas and Ferb activity and coloring book. Enjoy!

Perry the Platypus coloring activities for kids.

Click > FREE Phineas and Ferb game and activity book pdf

Click to highlight the images below to find and print Disney Phineas, Ferb, and Perry the Platypus Pumpkin Carving Stencil Template Patterns! These are the perfect patterns for little Disney fans to use for a DIY Disney Pumpkin or print and use as a coloring sheet!

Ferb Pumpkin Carving Template.

Perry the Platypus pumpkin stencil.

Phineas pumpkin pattern template stencil.

Recommended Reading:


Free Pumpkin Carving Online Game

How to Make a Perry the Platypus Costume

Phineas and Ferb Laughapalooza Joke Book *

Make a Phineas Mask for Halloween

Spooktacular Joke Book (Phineas and Ferb) *


 *I receive tickets to the show for sharing these goodies with you. We do not share your personal information with others. Third parties may collect information through cookies when you click into their sites. The Walt Disney Company is neither a sponsor nor an endorser of this giveaway.

Wordless Wednesday: Make a Recycled Pumpkin Snowman

Need pumpkin decorating ideas? 

Okay, he's not a recycled pumpkin just a leftover- "Make a Snowman Jack-o-lantern". Jake likes to keep his pumpkin in the house to protect it from would be smashers. He's been doing this since he was one. As long as no one uses them as a kickball or a chair, they last until spring, at which time we toss it in the garden and pray for pumpkin babies. Use Velcro to attach felt/foam shapes, and change his face. Enjoy!

No Snow, Pumpkin Man, made from a Snowman Kit.

Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

Creepy-eyed Pumpkin Man for Halloween.

A picture is worth a thousand words. One of these days, I'm going to start using my new camera, but it seems like such a chore when my phone is so handy. I guess my phone pictures are only worth five-hundred words! :-)

Let your picture tell the story, thanks for linking up!

Recommended: 

The Biggest Snowman Ever*

Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Creative Snowman Ideas for Preschoolers

Creative Pumpkin Activities

Get Creative and Make a Pumpkin Mummy

This pumpkin mummy is an adorable and less messy way to decorate a pumpkin for Halloween! We found these cute little pumpkins over at Hands on as we Grow.  Enjoy!

Mummy pumpkins from Hands on as we grow.

We made these for a preschool Halloween Hoopla class and the kids loved them! Just wrap your pumpkin in cheesecloth.

Recommended Reading:

Why do We Carve Pumpkins?


The Runaway Pumpkin *ad


The Night Before Halloween *ad