I may have loved Hallowe’en costumes but I never liked the pumpkin carving part. Sticky and slimy at the same time. Scary texture. Stubborn seeds.
In this year of the empty nest I said to myself, “To heck with pumpkins.” I took two Whole Foods grocery bags, turned them inside out, cut faces in them, set down two little hurricane-ensconced candles in each one, and surrounded the candles with some gravel for stability.
Looked kind of silly in the afternoon.
But just fine come nighttime.
28 Responses
Very cute! I bought a plastic, plug in, jackolantern this year. I felt like I was cheating, but I was too busy taking care of PR to mess with real pumpkings. Although I do love roasting the seeds … the men in my house enjoy them during football games, etc.
They're great! Scary indeed.
I think this is a great idea!
That's very clever!
neccesity is the mother of invention… or something like that :) how fun and I am sure that there is a "green" spin on all of this!
kHm
Great idea! And no slime or mess.
There is no end to your talents!
My "year[s] of the empty nest" inspired me to substitute driftwood branches for Christmas trees (no hauling from town, no fussy falling needles — parallel to your doing away with slime and seeds) — so far I'm still carving pumpkins, but I might not after seeing this brilliant adaptation. And my husband, who had to haul a pumpkin home in the boat and on the bike yesterday, will be grateful to you.
I also like this idea (do these bags get called luminaria elsewhere) for a welcoming start to a party throughout the darker months — scary faces not necessary.
Brilliant!
That was BRILLIANT! I am so doing that next year.
boo.
OMG. I knew I loved blogging. Where else I can have a complete holiday fail and my friends tell me I am brilliant? Thank you very much. It's just the Sturdy Gal. She cain't make no artsy punkins but she can cut a paper bag with the best of them! They are called luminarias, but then usually aren't made out of Whole Foods grocery bags turned inside out.
…boo back atcha.
Would work for me :) I like to hand the pumpkins to the hubby to do.
Wonderful idea… (and very scary too!!)
Seeing that carving pumpkins around here is not a tradition (hard to even find carving pumpkins here!), this would be a wonderful stand-in. I might just 'borrow' this idea for next year's Halloween! Thanks for sharing. :)
Brilliant! I love them. xoxo
SC
I remember the first Halloween with my wee ones and the carving of the pumpkins. Both were bathed and ready for bed and the table was covered in newspapers for this grand annual ritual: carving of the pumpkins. I carefully cut the tops off and lifted them off. My oldest (3 at that time) took one look and lost his dinner, my one-year-old soon followed suit. Now, I not only had their mess to clean up but pumpkins innards (sp?) too. Oh my! Needless to say they grew up with the plastic light up pumpkins. No fuss, no muss. My poor third child was 10 before he had a real pumpkin and he did just fine.
I never carved pumpkins, not one.
Very cute! I've not carved a pumpkin as an adult! can you believe it. I just buy pumpkins and set them around my front courtyard, balcony and door way. I completely agree with you about the slimyness, and I'm just not that talented with using a knife. So my little pumpkins will just have to do.
Clever! Many things look better in the nightime than they do in the afternoon don't you think?
Darla
I never got down to carving pumpkins this year. We wanted to let our girls help us a little (can you imagine 19-months old girls playing with the "sticky and slimy" parts of the pumkins?) We needed good weather so that we could do it outside but it was raining the whole week :-( It seemed that nobody in our neighborhood cared about Halloween in general, so we fit perfectly.
Your idea was very creative though :-)
Thank you for your sweet comment! I will definitely remember you rule for lie vs. lay! And these jack-o-lantern bags are SUPER cute! Have a great day XOXO
Absolutely genius! I always hated plunging my hand into those slimy pumpkin interiors as a child…but I loved the toasted pumpkin seeds my mom used to make from the discarded innards!
Well at least the pumpkin innards never made me throw up. Something to be thankful for. I was going to call them guts. Innards is ever so much more polite. And now that I think about it, now that the Internet exists, I could finally figure out how to roast pumpkin seeds and not wind up with burnt offerings.
A very clever alternative!
I've never liked Halloween. It's one of those things that is suppose to be fun but isn't. I'm with you on the pumpkin carving; plus I don't like orange and I don't like strangers ringing my doorbell. And who wants to bob for apples and get their face wet. Bah humbug.
On a happier note, I had butternut squash soup garnished with sour cream and roasted pumpkin seeds at a wedding last week. Very autumnal, as Martha Stewart would say.
very cute and spooky!!! I don't like carving pumpkins either. I think it's gross.
Cool! Only thing I'd miss are the pumpkin seeds roasted in plenty of butter!
Love this! Absolutely genius.
Do adore your blog LPC.
Miss W xx
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