How to Choose a Pumpkin for Carving

Series Summary

Halloween is a great holiday for fun and festivities the whole family can enjoy. Dating back to the 5th century BC in Celtic Ireland, Halloween originally may have developed on a day when the Celts believed that spirits could intermingle with the living, and so would dress up in ghoulish scary costumes and noisily parade around the neighborhood being destructive, in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess. Today, the Halloween holiday is more fun and playful with children and adults dressing up in scary Halloween costumes for trick or treating or a fun Halloween party. Many people carve Halloween pumpkins to make Jack-O-Lanterns, and also decorate with fake spider webs, bats, ghosts, and other ghoulish decorations.

In the traditional spirit of Halloween, learn how to make a Jack-O-Lantern. Vincent Laporta shows you everything you need to know to carve a pumpkin. Learn how pick and clean out a pumpkin. Also, hear tips for drawing a pumpkin face before carving. If you want to make an elaborate pumpkin using a pattern, learn how to attach the pattern to the pumpkin and how to trace pumpkin patterns. Vincent also gives advice for lighting and creating an air hole in a pumpkin. So, take some time and learn how to master your pumpkin carving skills today!

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Vincent Laporta on behalf of Expert Village. Today we're going to be carving various pumpkins from simple jack o lanterns to a lot more difficult patterns. One of the first things, which is very important, is to choose your pumpkin. Some of them will have nice round shapes. You always want to try to get a pumpkin that has a stem. This adds to the look and the whole effect to the pumpkin itself. As this pumpkin here, it's a round pumpkin and this one here has a higher face side. Depending pattern of what you're going to do, you basically just choose the pumpkin that you feel is going to be good for your pattern. When choosing your pumpkin, this shape here is a nice round pumpkin. This will make a really nice looking jack o lantern for the old time effect. Has a nice stem. That's what you always want. You always want to try to get stems on your pumpkin. Some of them are broken off, but I always like to choose for the effect and the over all viewing of what it looks like when it's done. It's also easy to pick it up when you have to replace your candle."