How to Choose a Halloween Pumpkin

It may be useful to decide on a carving design before setting out to purchase your pumpkin. This will allow you to choose the shape of pumpkin that will best fit your design. Most faces can be carved on any shape of pumpkin, but some designs look better on shorter and chubbier pumpkins, while taller and slimmer pumpkins are better for scenes and looking spookier.

Decide on where you are going to place your pumpkin, and what design you are going for. Are you setting it on the porch or a window sill? If you are headlong into design, you want to decide whether you want a large pumpkin, a small one, or a few of varying sizes and shapes.

When shopping for a pumpkin, look for pumpkins that are fresh and firm. Make sure that there are no bruises, soft spots of mould on the pumpkin to ensure a long-lasting pumpkin or jack-o-lantern. Avoid pumpkins with cuts, thin skin or other visible blemishes.

Choose the color of your pumpkin. They are not just orange anymore! The color of pumpkins range from a bright orange to nearly yellow, as well as white and sage green. Choose the color you want to use and will look best with your design. If you are going to make a display of many pumpkins, you may want to ensure they are the same tone and shade of color.

It is generally easier to draw on and carve a smooth skinned pumpkin. However, rougher skins with deep indentations can help to acquire a more sinister looking jack-o-lantern.

If you are planning on having your pumpkin sit on a hard surface, make sure it will sit straight. If you cut off the bottom of the pumpkin, tilting pumpkins can be corrected once the seeds are removed. If you are planning on carving the pumpkin and scraping the seeds out of a top opening, make sure your pumpkin will sit relatively straight on a hard surface.

Make sure your pumpkin has at least one good side for carving your design. It is nearly impossible to find ‘a perfect pumpkin’ with no blemishes or one that sits perfectly straight. If you are using a pumpkin as a centerpiece on a table, look for one that looks good from all angles. They are out there; you just have to find one.

If you are grouping pumpkins together, place them near one another to see how they look beside one another. Decide on the effect you are going after. For example, if you are going for small, medium, large, you need to find proportionate pumpkins to achieve this effect.