Printable Guide For Carving Pumpkins

No Halloween would be complete without pumpkin carving. Do you prefer spooky or silly designs? Show us your boo-tiful creations with our easy-to-follow guide on how to make jack-o-lanterns.

Download

Fun facts for kids:

What date is Halloween?

Halloween is on the same date every year, the 31st October.

Why do we celebrate Halloween?

Halloween is celebrated on 31st October, on the eve of the Christian feast, All Hallows’ Day. All Hallow’s Day is a holy day where the Christian church remembers the holy dead including saints and martyrs. However, Halloween is not really celebrated as a holy festival! Instead it’s a day where we get dressed up and have fun exploring the ghoulish side including ghosts, witches, demons and skeletons.  

Why do we carve pumpkins?

Traditionally, on All Hallow’s Day, children would carry turnip lanterns to light their way as they begged door-to-door for soul cakes to celebrate the dead. Soul cakes are small round cakes usually filled with raisins and sweet spices like nutmeg and cinnamon and topped with the mark of a cross. We suppose this was the origin of trick and treating.

When Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, they continued the tradition of making turnip lanterns. But soon discovered that natively-grown pumpkins were easier to carve. So they began using this instead and placed them on their doorsteps on Halloween to ward off evil spirits.

What is a jack-o-lantern?

Jack-o-lantern is another name for a carved pumpkin.  The name was coined in the 17th century in Britain and literally means ‘man with a lantern’.

Top ten Halloween costumes:

Get inspired with our top ten list of costumes:

1. Witch
2. Spooky ghost – all you need is a sheet and some attitude (watch ET for some inspiration)
3. Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton – the face-painting is really fun
4. Bat
5. Witches cat
6. Darth Vader – the modern world’s most evil person
7. Pumpkin – especially cute for toddlers (or kids who never grow up!)
8. Werewolf
9. Dracula
10. Grim Reaper

Don’t forget, if you need some printer ink for your downloads, head over to our site to stock up!

Download ← Back