What kind of a pumpkin do you carve for Halloween? Scary or Funny?

@poehere (15126)
French Polynesia
October 29, 2015 9:50pm CST
With my daughter and myself we use to have pumpkin carving contest for Halloween to see who could carve the scariest pumpkin. Then one year when I was visiting her Halloween rolled around. We spent the late afternoon at the table carving pumpkins Wow things sure changed over the years. Now she has designs that she draws on the pumpkins to carve out. She brought home these carving kits for us to use to carve our pumpkins with. It was a lot of fun but the guess work was taken out of it using the designs. What ever happened to good old fashion pumpkin carving? Here in Tahiti we don’t have the type of pumpkins you have in the US. Ours are very think and not so easy to carve out. But each year we love to draw our designs on pumpkins and carve them the good old fashion way. How do you carve your pumpkins? Do you buy the kits with design or do you still like to draw your own face on them and carve them? Image Source - personal image
8 people like this
11 responses
@sofssu (23662)
30 Oct 15
Sounds like fun.. The only thing I have ever carved was a watermelon for a dinner setting.. I love carving veggies once in a while.
2 people like this
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
Halloween is sort of a new holiday people have just started to celebrate and so is pumpkin carving. Many people don't carve pumpkins here because they think it is a waste and love to make soup or poe out of them.
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@sofssu (23662)
30 Oct 15
@poehere I think so too its a waste of one huge vegetable.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
@sofssu Here after we carve them I use a glow stick inside. So the next day I can take off the skin and boil it up or cook it in the oven with some butter and cinnamon on it. We eat our so I don't feel it is a waste.
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@jstory07 (134465)
• Roseburg, Oregon
30 Oct 15
I have not carved a pumpkin in years. But when I did I made a happy face nothing scary.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
Happy faced pumpkins are great too. I don't know why but we liked the scary one. I helped my god daughter carve one and it was a happy faced one with 1 tooth. It was so cute.
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@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
1 Nov 15
We have bought stencils and done them free style. They are usually gruesome and scary.
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@celticeagle (159058)
• Boise, Idaho
1 Nov 15
@poehere ....That is what it is all about isn't it?
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
1 Nov 15
@celticeagle It sure is but here the kids like happy faced pumpkins with one or two teeth.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
1 Nov 15
My kind of pumpkin I like them really gruesome and scary looking.
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• United States
30 Oct 15
We take turns drawing the face on the pumpkin. One person gets to draw the eyes, another gets to draw the nose, another gets to draw the mouth, etc., until all the details are done. It is fun doing it that way. We build on what the other one has done, and it never turns out the same twice. We have even had ears and earrings and other details on it different years.
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• United States
30 Oct 15
@poehere I will try to get a good picture of it. If I can, then I will upload it here. It came out very cute this year. Sometimes it is scary, sometimes cute and sometimes a combination of the two.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
@purplealabaster This sounds excellent. My god daughter will be here tomorrow and spend most of the week with me. I think we are carving up the giant pumpkin we grew in the garden. All the children can't wait to do this. If you can send me a picture would love to see your pumpkin. Sounds adorable.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
This sounds like a lot of fun and the whole family gets a chance to add to the pumpkin. It would be fun to try this one. I hope you have taken some pictures of your fantastic creation. How did your pumpkin turn out this year. I would love to see a picture of your pumpkin it sound fantastic.
1 person likes this
@Pattitude (1287)
• Newton, North Carolina
30 Oct 15
I have not carved a pumpkin since the kids lived at home. I did try a few years ago, but it was too difficult with my arthritis. It has gotten better, and I have not attempted since.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
I understand this. I did not carve pumpkins for years after my daughter left the islands to go to the US for school. Now the niece and nephews are grown it is fin to try it again with them.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
@Pattitude I basically only get to see mine during the summer vacation in the US they come to the islands to spend their summers here. During the rest of the year I try to do a lot with my god daughter and all the nieces and nephews here on the islands. They are all very close in age so it makes it fun right now. They are ranging from 8 to 11 years right now.
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@Pattitude (1287)
• Newton, North Carolina
30 Oct 15
@poehere I wish my grandchildren lived down here in NC. They are in Ohio. I would love to do fun things like this with them.
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@japneet20 (249)
• New Delhi, India
30 Oct 15
I've never carved a pumpkin myself but I'd like to do the scary one
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
Me too I always loved the scarry ones myself. My daughter did too.
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
31 Oct 15
@japneet20 I did love Halloween so much and it was a great time for me and my daughter. I sometimes miss it a lot so I do a lot of decorating and stuff here with the kids.
• New Delhi, India
31 Oct 15
@poehere the true Halloween spirit.
1 person likes this
• Calgary, Alberta
1 Nov 15
I didnt carved one, I just turned one into pie while the half of it is simmered in coconut milk with shrimp. I dont want to waste food into decoration.
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
1 Nov 15
This sounds delicious and you made good choice.
• United States
30 Oct 15
Gave this up many years ago. I have ceramic pumpkins, that's enough, no muss, no fuss.
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• United States
30 Oct 15
@poehere We grew them once but we planted them too early and they were ready in August - it was way too hot for them and they didn't last long.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
We don't have these on the islands. I also gave up carving pumpkins for years. But now my god daughter and my niece and 2 nephew we have started again. We grow the pumpkins in our garden so it makes it fun for them. Plus we eat them in the end.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
@AbbyGreenhill Yes certain pumpkins will rot easy from what I understand. Here they sort of grow year round but right now there seems to be a lot of them and this is good.
@Tampa_girl7 (48964)
• United States
31 Oct 15
I haven't carved a pumpkin in years.
1 person likes this
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
31 Oct 15
I think a lot of people got out of this tradition when their children grew up and left home. We were to have pumpkin carving day today but the kids won't be here tonight. So it has been cancelled.
• United States
30 Oct 15
Since I live in a neighborhood with small children I see all happy face pumpkins on the porches
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
This is so sweet. I think it's a good idea to make a happy face. The kids will feel so much safer going to the persons home. It is more inviting than an ugly old scary pumpkin.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
30 Oct 15
I only ever carved one once and it went mouldy really quickly.
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@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
30 Oct 15
@poehere It's not really in our culture to do it anyway so it was no great loss.
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@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
@boiboing I learned it the time I spent in the US. Then we went to Mexico and it was a different culture. Now here on the islands in he last 4 years Halloween has been adopted here. Still it is nothing like it was in the US but the kids do have some fun one night running around playing and getting candy. Mostly here we have one or two markets that have games and stuff for the kids this night.
@poehere (15126)
• French Polynesia
30 Oct 15
Yah in certain areas they go bad fast. I guess you need to carve them the night before. What we use has a thick skin and meat on it so they can last a little longer. I would of been disappointed if this happened to me. I can see why you stopped after this one. No fun.