. Carve them in a traditional manner. Carve them without cutting entirely through the rind so you are carving a layer out not all of the layers. Kids can glue glitter on them, hot glue jewels on them, paint them with a design, paint them all black and glue or use toothpicks to adhere paper or craft foam. Add bat wings or spider legs then glue googly eyes. Paint your pumpkins to be what you want. Hollow them out and use them as vases. Use hot glue or toothpicks to adhere things to them to make faces or designs. Pumpkins make a great decoration and can be a fun party activity.
Next time you're at the grocery store take time to look at all the produce and see if you can come up other veggies and fruits to carve into jack o'lanterns. For example: A large eggplant is the perfect shape for a goblin face. The purple almost looks black. Carefully hollow out the inside leaving at least a 1/2-inch thick wall. Carve a mean little face and insert a candle. Line up a group of carved eggplants on a garden wall. Insert one or two holiday lights into each eggplant instead of a candle. The effect is eerie and scary.
Carve hollowed-out watermelons into scary faces. Leave a good portion of the red flesh inside the watermelon. When it gets dark the green rind looks very dark and contrasts with the red flesh inside when lit with a candle.
Stack carved pumpkins and insert battery-operated holiday lights into each one. If you're only stacking two or three they should stay stable without other support. For a higher stack attach a wooden dowel to a wood board. Carve a hole at the bottom of each pumpkin for the dowel to slip through.
Create an eerie effect by hollowing out a large pumpkin for the base. Put a bowl in the pumpkin. Carve another pumpkin the sits on top of the first one. Make a 3 inch diameter hole in the bottom of that smaller pumpkin. When Halloween arrives, fill the bowl with hot water and place a chunk of dry ice in the water. Place the smaller carved pumpkin on top of the first one. The fog created by the dry ice interacting with the hot water will come up through the hole in the top pumpkin and then out the carved eyes, nose and mouth.