90 Scary Easy Carving Ideas for Your Best Halloween Pumpkin Ever (2024)

One of the greatest and most iconic traditions of Halloween is pumpkin carving. After a day at the pumpkin patch, there’s nothing greater than coming home, washing your haul of pumpkins, and carving a fun design into one or more of them to adorn your porch, entryway, or other outdoor Halloween decoration area. This is a Halloween activity that can be celebrated by a vast range of ages — though youngins may need help and supervision when it comes to wielding the carving knife. If you’re looking for inspiration for decorating this year’s jack-o’-lantern, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together 90 pumpkin carving ideas, from easy to difficult, small to large, and sweet to scary that’ll tickle any itch you have for this year’s jack-o’-lantern design.

Many of these cool pumpkin carving ideas incorporate Halloween decor and household items you likely already own, making them ideal for cheap crafting. While carving, you can stick to the traditional route with pumpkin face ideas, or you can branch out and carve a scene, shape, or word — the options are endless.

For more pumpkin decorating ideas, make sure to check out our list of painted pumpkin ideas, simple Halloween crafts, and free printable pumpkin stencils next.

Amidst the witches and ghosts of Halloween, don't forget about another spooky mainstay — Count Dracula. To recreate this nailbiting design, download the Teen Scream stencil, print, trace, and carve.

Trouble comes in twos with this Dirty Duo cat stencil that features two scowling cats, offering a scary-but-not-too-scary pumpkin carving idea ideal for kids.

Create two metal heads by carving a face into each pumpkin. Then, adorn each with various pieces of scrap metal. This could include nuts, bolts, screws, faucets, doorbells — whatever you have lying around is fine to use! For the spiky hair, cut and poke medium-sized pieces of wire into the top of a pumpkin's head. For a curly-haired look, wrap the wire around a pen before poking.

Impress neighbors not only with a ghoulish shape but also with carved letters in this double-whammy pumpkin carving idea. Trace the image beforehand with the Boo to You stencil, and carve it to your liking.

Opt for a friendly Halloween character with this joyful, succulent jack-o'-lantern. To make, gut the pumpkin from the back. Cover the pumpkin stem with a small terracotta planter, and stuff it with dangling succulents. Attach two air plants above the open, carved mouth using headpins. Similarly, attach cactus pads along the mouth opening using headpins for a toothy grin. Continue to embellish the pumpkin to your liking using other succulents, plants, and headpins.

If you take a classic jack-o'-lantern face and turn it up a few notches, this is what you'll get. A scarily sinister smile to frighten and delight passersby. Download the Hobgoblin stencil to recreate it.

Use pieces you likely already own to make this towering pumpkin statue. It's a great indoor or outdoor entryway piece. Stack pumpkins on top of a plant pot or urn, creating a comfortable bed for the pumpkins to sit on using faux leaves, straw, hay, or whatever else you may already own.

Carve a happy Halloween couple! Draw and carve lovey-dovey faces on this duo, and save some of the rind from the larger pumpkin's mouth to create the partner's 3D pout. Lightly scrape in lines for eyelashes, eyebrows, and lips.

Play around with paint and shapes! Spray paint your pumpkin with white paint: let dry. Using the crevices of the pumpkin as a guide, scrape diamonds of various sizes around the pumpkin.

A fun-shaped mouth is what makes this pumpkin! Carve a squiggly mouth into a hollowed-out pumpkin. For eyes, hot glue plastic Easter egg halves to the stem. Cut pupils from black and white craft paper; hot glue in place.

The more eyes, the better! Using a melon baller, carve eye cavities for the radishes. Cut off one end of each radish to expose the white inside. Insert a bean into the white to make a pupil. Secure the radishes into place with a toothpick; carve a mouth.

Go for an out-of-the-box design with this witch's legs stencil. Bonus points if you accompany the pumpkin with a broom!

Incorporate several pumpkins into your Halloween design. Use an oval-shaped variegated squash for the body, a round orange pumpkin for the head, and a bell-shaped gourd for the tail. Attach them with skewers, centering the stem of the pumpkin as the nose. Etch out a smile and hollow holes for eyes. Layer a small acorn bottom inside a large acorn top as eyeballs: glue in place. Quarter a small pumpkin for feet, gluing on pumpkin seeds as claws; use the rest to cut out pointy ears. Attach all to the body with skewers.

Did someone say table decor? A tall pumpkin works best for this guy: Slice off the bottom third and carve the tail out of it. Cut a simple, smiley face in the larger section. Pop off the stem and attach it, upside-down, as a spout.