Carving pumpkins in messy and very time consuming, especially since carved pumpkins only last about a week before needing to be thrown away.
Carved pumpkins rot sooner than pumpkins that are not carved because the outside of the pumpkin protects it and carving it removes the protection.
Instead of carving, consider decorating your Halloween pumpkin in a different way.
Here are a few ways to decorate a pumpkin without carving.
http://kaboompics.com/photo/2798/golden-ornamental-pumpkins-with-cactuses
Paint
You can use traditional brush on paint or spray paint on your pumpkin.
When painting your pumpkin, consider using unique paint finishes, such as modern metallic paint finish, chalkboard paint, or a glow in the dark paint.
Also consider using stencils or stamps.
Perhaps you want to paint your house numbers on your pumpkin instead of carving the traditional jack o lantern face.
photo courtesy of Wonderlane flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/2977619284/
Glitter
Kids love sparkly stuff, so why not glitter your pumpkin?
Simply paint the exterior of your pumpkin with glue and cover it in glitter.
If you have a small pumpkin, you can paint it with glue and put it in a zip top bag with glitter and shake it up.
You can also use glitter paint.
Decoupage
Decoupage is the art of gluing paper cutouts to an items in an artistic way.
You can cut out pictures from magazines, clip art printed from your computer, words from a newspaper, use decorative party napkins, or whatever you like to create a decoupage pumpkin.
Consider decoupaging with items such as eyeballs, bugs, snakes, and other creepy things.
Sequins, Rhinestones, Mirrored Tiles, Ribbon, Etc.
You can add more glamour to your pumpkin by decorating it with items such as sequins, rhinestones, ribbon, lace, mirrored tiles, nailheads, specialty beads, or anything you can think of.
Stickers
Consider using simple and easy stickers to decorate a pumpkin without carving.
You can use Halloween themed stickers or everyday stickers in shapes and colors you like.
Feathers
For a feminine pumpkin, consider decorating it with feathers.
You can use solid colored feathers, multicolored feathers, peacock feathers, or feathers you find in your garden.
Candy
Since Halloween is all about the candy for kids, why not decorate your Halloween pumpkin using candy.
You can use all sorts of candy corn, hard candies, gummy candies, or whatever you like - wrapped or unwrapped.
Since candy comes in all shapes and sizes, you are sure to find something that matches your artistic ideas.
Gold Leaf
For extra oppulence, you can apply gold leaf #ad to your pumpkin for a fancy and elegant decoration without carving.
Also consider using silver leaf or any other metal leaf.
photo by Le living and co lelivingandco.blogspot.ca flickr.com/photos/lelivingandco/8131556408/
Thumb Tacks
Thumb tacks can be used to decorate a pumpkin by simply inserting the thumb tack into the pumpkin to create a design.
You can even cover the entire pumpkin in thumb tacks if you wish.
Thumb tacks come in all different shapes and colors, so you can really get creative.
Clothing and Accessories
Your pumpkin can be decorated using clothing and accessories, such as a hat, glasses, tiara, mustache, jewelry, a scarf, or whatever you can come up with.
photo courtesy of peapodsquadmom flickr.com/photos/peapodsquadmom/4062994330/
Mixture of Techniques
For a one of a kind no carve pumpkin, use a mixture of the techniques above.
You can paint a pumpkin and use thumb tacks, you can decoupage with sequins, you can glitter and use feathers, or whatever you desire.
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