When it comes to carving pumpkins for Halloween, the first thing that pops into many people's heads is a fierce scary face, the more menacing the better
But if you actually walk down the street, you will find the most popular and most smile-inducing one is often another kind —— the smiling pumpkin. A grinning or squinting smiling face set down by the door makes even passing adults stop for a smile
Halloween does not have to be scary. The smiling pumpkin is the most likable kind of carving. This article is all about how to carve a pumpkin that smiles, plus a few smiling face designs that are especially easy to do and especially good-looking
Why a smiling pumpkin
First, why carve a smiling pumpkin instead of a scary face
First, it is kid friendly. If you have kids at home who scare easily, or neighborhood kids come to trick-or-treat in the evening, the snarling scary face at the door can really make little ones cry. A smiling face has none of that trouble —— kids light up the moment they see it and are more relaxed when they trick-or-treat
Second, passersby will smile. On Halloween night, when a whole street of jack-o'-lanterns is all scary faces and skeletons, a smiling face suddenly showing up at your door is the most eye-catching and the most likable of all. People walking past your door will pause and smile —— this smiling face is the mascot of your porch
Third, it is easy to carve and takes little effort. A scary face means carving all kinds of fangs and sharp angles, which wears out your knife and your arms. A smiling face? A few curves and you are done, quick to carve and hard to get wrong, so even beginners can give it a go
A few classic smiling face designs
The fun of the smiling pumpkin is that a smile can look so many different ways. Here are a few classics, and whichever one you pick will look great:
Big grin: the most classic kind. A big curved mouth split wide in a grin, with a few square teeth showing —— this is the most standard and most likable smiling face among jack-o'-lanterns. The eyes can be carved as two small upside-down triangles or as crescent moons
Squinting smile: the softest and cutest kind. Carve the eyes as two curved arcs (the look of eyes squinting in a smile) and pair them with a small smile curving upward. The whole pumpkin looks beaming and is especially heartwarming, great for a doorstep with lots of kids
Crooked smile: the goofiest kind. Carve the mouth slanted to one side with a slightly naughty curve and make one eye bigger than the other. This cheeky smile makes passing adults laugh at a glance
Gap-toothed grin: the cutest kind. Like a kid who lost a tooth, the mouth is a wide grin, but leave one or two small bits of pumpkin in the middle as the gap for the missing tooth —— it looks just like a cheerful kid missing a front tooth. This one hits people right in the heart
Mini smiling faces: instead of carving one big pumpkin, find a bunch of small pumpkins (or gourds) and carve a tiny smiling face on each one, lining them up in a row at the door. A row of little smiling faces is even more likable than a single big pumpkin, and they are perfect on a windowsill
Get these ready before you start carving
Before you start, gather all your gear so you are not hunting around halfway through the carving
Pumpkin: pick one that is nice and round and sits steady. Try to choose one with a flat bottom that stands on its own, and do not pick a lopsided one, or it will roll around once you finish carving
Four tools are all you need: a marker for drawing the face, a big spoon for scooping out the insides, a small carving knife for adults only, and a small LED light (or an electronic candle, skip real candles for safety)
One more iron safety rule: kids use only the spoon and the marker the whole time, the knife stays with adults. Kids scoop out the insides and draw the face, adults do the cutting —— a division of labor the whole family can join in on without anyone getting hurt
Four steps to carve a smiling pumpkin
Once you're ready, start carving, it really is just four steps:
Step one, cut the lid. Draw a circle on top of the pumpkin with the marker, then cut along the circle at an angle with the knife (cut at a slant, not straight down). That way the lid sits back in after carving instead of plopping down into the pumpkin's belly. The piece you cut off is your pumpkin hat
Step two, scoop out the insides. Use the big spoon to scoop all the pulp and seeds out of the pumpkin's belly, and scrape the inner walls nice and smooth. With the insides cleaned out, your knife won't keep hitting soft pulp and getting stuck when you carve the face later. Don't toss the seeds, rinse and roast them for a fall snack
Step three, draw the face. With the marker, draw the smiling face you want on the front of the pumpkin —— outline the eyes and mouth first. Remember two little tricks: keep the eyes small (too big and it looks goofy), and make the mouth big and curved (so the smile really shows), if you want teeth, draw a few small squares along the edge of the mouth and leave them uncut when you carve
Step four, bring out the knife and add the light. Adults cut out the outline of the eyes and mouth along the lines you drew. Where you want teeth, leave a few small bits of pumpkin uncut. When you're done, put the small LED light into the pumpkin's belly, put the lid back on, and light it up —— just like that, a smiling face lights up at your door
A few tricks to make that smile light up
Same smiling face, so why do some turn out great and others look dull? It comes down to these details:
The eyes and mouth need contrast in size. Small eyes and a big mouth make the face lively, eyes and mouth the same size and it looks stiff
If you want teeth, don't cut the whole mouth through. Leave a few small squares at the edge of the mouth and you get a big grin with teeth, it really looks like a genuine smile
Put the light in the right spot. Place the light directly under the mouth and eyes if you can, so the light shines through the holes at its brightest. Put it off to one side and only one side of the pumpkin is lit, leaving half the face in the dark
For even more impact, add a little something extra on top of the smile —— for example carve two small dots on the cheeks as dimples, or add a tiny hat made of pumpkin skin on top. Little details like these make your smiling pumpkin stand out on the whole street
Once the carving is done, how to make it last a few more days
No matter how good your smiling pumpkin looks, it wilts if it sits out too long. Here are a few ways to keep it smiling for a few more days:
Don't carve too early. Once a pumpkin is carved, it starts losing moisture and going soft within a day or two. So the best time is a day or two before Halloween, don't carve it a week ahead and set it out
Spray on a little vinegar water. After carving, spray the pumpkin's surface (especially the cut edges and the carved openings) with water mixed with white vinegar (about 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water), it slows down mold and buys you a few more days. After this step, wipe the pumpkin's surface dry
Bag it and refrigerate. If your fridge has room, slip the pumpkin into a plastic bag at night, put it in the fridge, then bring it back out to display during the day —— this noticeably extends its lifespan. Of course, if the pumpkin is too big, just leave it outside and keep it out of direct sun
One last word
The smiling pumpkin is probably the warmest kind of Halloween carving
It isn't scary, it just stands at the door smiling; it isn't hard work, a few curved lines do the trick; it isn't lonely, pair it with a black cat silhouette and a moon sticker and it becomes the coziest corner of the porch
On Halloween night the whole street glows with jack-o'-lanterns. And that grinning face is the one on the block most likely to make people stop and smile along. Kids passing by after school look at it, trick-or-treaters grin at it, and adults coming home from a late shift see that little warm yellow smile at the door and their heart eases a bit
Carve a smiling pumpkin. For Halloween, and for everyone who passes your porch, leave a smiling face
