Pelican’s annual Halloween celebration, Boo Bash, is one of the most anticipated days of the year for Pelican team members. It’s jam-packed with fun games, delicious food, creative costumes, and creative pumpkin decorating ideas galore.
We don’t just carve pumpkins here at Pelican. Pumpkins are meticulously crafted, painted, stacked, and much more to bring the vision of their creators to life!
Whether you’re decorating for Halloween, hosting a party, or just want a fun bonding activity with the family, we’ve got the inspiration you’re looking for! Check out these 24 creative pumpkin decorating ideas from the Pelican family:
101 Dalmatians
This pumpkin decoration was spot on at recreating the magic of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians!
You won’t need 101 pumpkins (unless you really want to). To recreate this at home, you’ll just need a few pumpkins, some black and white paint, paint brushes, and carving tools.
Paint each pumpkin white, adding black spots throughout. You can get extra crafty with them and carve out dog faces, too!
Abstract Art
Channel your inner artist this Halloween!
This pumpkin was made with melted wax from crayons, but you can use paint, too! Simply pour a variety of colored paints at the top of the pumpkin and let the paint drip down until it dries.
Set up these abstract art pumpkin decorations all around your home for a vibrant Halloween decoration display!
Baseball Team
Bring some of America’s favorite pastime to your Halloween decorations!
Paint the pumpkin to resemble a baseball, then move on to the field and players. Our team got extra creative with this decoration and added faces of each team member to the baseball players.
As you add the field markings, the players, and the crowd, don’t forget the Cracker Jacks!
Black Cat
Black cats are a Halloween decoration staple.
For this pumpkin, you’ll need carving tools, lots of black paint, cardboard for the ears, and a metallic marker for the whiskers.
Start by carving the pumpkin to resemble at cat’s face, then paint the entire pumpkin with black paint. Cut the construction paper into triangles and glue them on to the top left and right side of the pumpkin.
Add in the accents like the nose, whiskers, and hair with the metallic marker. You can even use pipe cleaners as whiskers for a 3D effect!
Caramel Apple
Decorate your home and make it a super-sized candy emporium!
This one used lots of paint for the green apple and caramel effects, a broomstick for the handle, and glued-on peanuts for some added texture.
Caterpillar
While it probably won’t turn into a butterfly, this caterpillar pumpkin will still add some pizzazz to your Halloween decorations.
You’ll need several pumpkins, paint, pipe cleaners, and Styrofoam balls. Cut a large Styrofoam ball down the middle for the eyes, and use two small Styrofoam balls for the antennas. Paint each pumpkin one solid color, glue on the eyes and antennas, and adjust the placement of each pumpkin slightly for a wiggly, wormy effect.
Cotton Candy
Wishing your pumpkins were a bit sweeter?
To transform your pumpkin into cotton candy, you’ll need some cotton, spray paint, glue, and construction paper. Start by making the handle by twisting the construction paper into a funnel shape, and gluing it on the pumpkin.
Next, apply the glue all over the pumpkin and begin adding the cotton, spreading it out in the process so that the pumpkin is fully covered.
Spray paint the cotton blue or pink, or a mixture of both, to your desired amount so that it looks like the real thing.
Creepy Dolls
If you’re going for a scare factor this Halloween, definitely use this pumpkin idea!
White and red paint, burlap, carving tools, and detached limbs from a Barbie doll are what you’ll need to recreate this decoration.
Start by painting the entire pumpkins with white paint. Next, carve out faces for each pumpkin to your desired creepiness and begin adding red effects around the eyes and mouth. Use the burlap on the eyes and mouth for a cross hatching effect. Place the Barbie doll limbs in the pumpkins’ mouths and throughout the display.
Football Stadium
Halloween is in the heat of football season, so turning your pumpkin into a football stadium is only fitting, right?
For this decoration, you’ll need a cardboard box, construction paper, dollar store mini figurines, paint, markers, pipe cleaners, and printouts of a football crowd.
Start by opening up the cardboard box so that it has a base and four sides. Cut the top and bottom sides so that the left and right sides are higher. Paint your pumpkin gray or white to resemble a concrete structure. Carve an opening so that it looks like a tunnel for football players to run out of.
Paint the base of the cardboard box or use construction paper to look like a football field and add pipe cleaners along the left and right sides so that they look like stadium lights. Place and glue the figurines throughout the field.
Finish the decoration off with printouts of a crowd, taping them along the side of the cardboard box.
Gumball Machine
Could you tell that the top and bottom of the gumball machine was a plant pot? You may have to do a double-take to notice.
A plant pot, some red paint, and lots of gumballs (or pom poms) and glue is all it takes to make your pumpkin look like a classic gumball machine!
Start by painting the plant pot red. Next, carefully glue on each gumball or pom pom to the pumpkin so that only a small area at the top and bottom of the pumpkin is showing. Glue on the plant pot saucer to the top of the pumpkin, with the opening facing downward.
Santa Claus
Are you one of those people that can’t wait to put up Christmas decorations? Get into the spirit a bit early by creating this pumpkin!
For this decoration, you’ll need one pumpkin, construction paper, glitter, cotton balls, spray-on glue, and a black marker.
Paint the entire pumpkin gold, then add facial features using the black marker. Next, give your pumpkin a full white beard by using the cotton and glue. Top it off with a classic Santa hat made out of the construction paper, using spray-on glue and glitter to give the hat a shininess to it.
Mardi Gras
No need to wait for Carnival season to come back around—you can celebrate Mardi Gras in October, too!
For the king cake, cut one pumpkin down the middle, remove the stem, and place each cut side down. Add white paint to resemble icing, then add purple, gold, and green glitter for extra effects.
Take another pumpkin and paint it silver, then glue on a mask and add a mouth with white and red paint.
To finish it off, take what you caught at the parade and use them as props for your pumpkin decoration. This includes beads, doubloons, boas, and more.
Mickey Mouse
Disney is always a great option when it comes to Halloween decorations—and the themes are virtually endless! If Disney is what you’re going for, Mickey Mouse is a good place to start.
Simply carve out Mickey’s facial features and add the ears on each side using two small pumpkins. Use skewers for the smaller pumpkins so they stay intact.
Mime
Have you hit a glass wall with pumpkin decorating ideas? Well, we’ve got one for you!
All you’ll need for this one is some paint, glue, cardboard, and construction paper. Start by carving out eyes, a nose, and a mouth, then paint only the front of the pumpkin in a circle with white paint.
Next, use black and red paint as desired to resemble a mime’s face. Then, cut a 4 inch by 4 inch square piece of construction paper, paint it black, then glue on a cylinder shaped piece of construction paper for the top hat. Add a red piece of construction paper to the bottom of the cylinder to put the final touches!
Monsters
Monsters are a go-to for Halloween decorations. Plus, since monsters can come in all shapes and sizes, your monster pumpkins can be as frightful or goofy as your imagination takes them.
For this pumpkin, Pelican team members used a bouncy ball and construction paper for the eye, markers for detail, and some crookneck squash for the ears.
Movie Theater Snacks
What’s a good flick without snacks?
To recreate this decoration, you’ll first need to paint your pumpkin with red and white paint like a bucket of popcorn. You’ll also need a small cardboard box for the tray. Then, glue on popcorn at the top of the pumpkin.
Next, add your choice of movie theater candy and a drink of choice as props for the display.
Nightmare Before Christmas
The famous Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the most popular Halloween themes each year!
Recreate this decoration by taking smaller pumpkins and painting them to resemble various characters like Jack and Sally from the movie. Take a large pumpkin and carve the movie’s iconic spiral hill.
Add more pumpkins with spooky faces and cobwebs to the display for extra effect!
Pirate Ship
Arrrgh! There’s pumpkin decorating afoot!
To make this pirate-themed pumpkin decoration, you’ll need some skewers, cotton balls, construction paper, and white and black paint.
Start by painting the pumpkin black and placing a bunch of cotton balls at the base of the display so that it looks like rough seas. Next, cut your pumpkin in the middle from left to right, curving as you cut to create the outline of the ship.
Decorate the construction paper for the ship’s sails, and place it in the middle of the pumpkin with the skewers.
Use the second half of the pumpkin and carve out tentacles to resemble a kraken. Glue two tentacles on each side of the ship.
The Price is Right
Inspired by the classic TV game show The Price is Right, this pumpkin was one of the favorites at Pelican’s 2019 Boo Bash.
You can recreate this pumpkin at home with some cardboard, Christmas lights, electrical tape, and black paint.
Paint the entire pumpkin black, then begin building the spinning wheel with cardboard and construction paper. Place the Christmas lights along the left and right borders of the wheel. Add a sign at the top with the game show’s logo.
Spider Baby (from Toy Story)
Add some terror to your Halloween decorations by recreating the spider baby doll from Disney’s Toy Story.
You’ll need one large pumpkin and one small pumpkin.
To start, take the small pumpkin and carve out a face. Use eight bendable metal straps for the legs and glue them, four on each side, of the pumpkin to resemble spider legs. Next, paint a cardboard box with metallic paint and glue the small pumpkin to the top of the box.
Glue the bottom of the cardboard box to the top of the large pumpkin, and you’re done!
Superheroes
Superheroes and comic book characters are an extremely common theme for Halloween costumes, as they offer up so many options. Give your pumpkins superpowers by transforming them into superheroes!
For this pumpkin decoration, the team used print outs of each superhero’s logo, glue, lots of sequins, and shiny paint.
You can use little cloths as capes for even more detail!
Tin Man
The Wizard of Oz has inspired Halloween decorations and costumes for decades.
Recreate this tin man by using one pumpkin, silver paint, a metal strainer, a funnel, two u-shaped shaped brackets, two washers, one bolt, and a cabinet handle.
Paint the pumpkin and funnel with the silver paint and begin adding the hardware for facial features. Use the washers for eyes, u-shaped brackets for ears, cabinet handle for the mouth, and a bolt for the nose.
Don’t forget the heart! Simply cut red construction paper in a heart shape and tape it on the strainer.
Unicorn
Make your Halloween decorations look like a fantasy wonderland!
All you’ll need for this pumpkin is some pink paint, black marker, a party hat, glitter, yarn, spray-on glue, and construction paper for the ears.
Paint the entire pumpkin pink and begin adding facial features with the black marker. Cut out two triangles from the construction paper for the ears and glue them to the top left and right of the pumpkin.
Apply the spray-on glue to the party hat and add the glitter to it. Glue the party hat above the face and in the center of it, then begin gluing yarn on the pumpkin for the unicorn’s hair.
Witch
This pumpkin decoration is the most wicked of them all.
Start by taking some time carving out the witch’s face. You can draw on the face with a pencil beforehand so you know exactly where to carve.
Next, set a hat on top, and you’ve got yourself a Halloween favorite! Leave the stem on the top of the pumpkin and add some tape so the hat doesn’t fall off.
Do you have any pumpkin decorating ideas that we missed? Let us know in the comments below!
Louisiana State University alumnus (Geaux Tigers), fanatic of all things sports, pugs, and Star Wars, and teller of the occasional dad joke. Retired Avenger, current NFL free agent.
