Cool Alternative Pumpkin Carving Ideas (+ Pumpkin Painting For Kids)

We hear ya. We know how hard it is come up with cool Jack O’Lanterns every Halloween. So here’s a round up of our favourite alternative pumpkin carving ideas. We’ve also added some pumpkin painting for kids who are too young to be trusted with a knife but still want to be involved with the Halloween pumpkin decorating tradition. And, also Halloween for adults because who wants to let the kids have all the fun?

Movie Pumpkin Carving Ideas

Impress your neighbours with some of these movie pumpkin carving ideas!

Movie pumpkin carving ideas include the swashbuckling Indiana Jones

Sleepy Hollow’s Headless Horseman is creepy even if totally Halloween appropriate.

Minion Halloween Pumpkin

Kids love Minions! Both in their stand-alone movie and as part of the Despicable Movie series, they are perfect for Halloween. After all what is not scary about the thought of slightly crazy, genetically engineered corn kernel henchmen?

An easy Minion pumpkin carving actually involves no carving!

Disney Halloween Pumpkin

A Disney Halloween pumpkin is a good idea because Disney movie have their fair share of villains psych as Scar in The Lion King.

A Disney Halloween pumpkin of Scar from The Lion King is also an easy pumpkin painting for kids.

Aladdin Pumpkin Carving

Although arguably the Genie in Aladdin isn’t a villain, he is deceitful and manipulative. So a pretty good Halloween Aladdin pumpkin carving for us!

The genie from Aladdin is another easy pumpkin painting for kids to help with.

Pumpkin Painting for Kids

Pumpkin painting for kids is an easy way for them to get involved in decorating a Jack O’Lantern without actually getting the knives out. Pumpkin painting can be an easy way to get older kids involved with younger ones so that it can look its best!

I love this Disney Halloween pumpkin from Up – I admit I cried because it was such a bittersweet movie about ageing.

Here’s a sweet Disney Halloween Pumpkin featuring the house from Up that can also serve double duty as pumpkin painting for kids

Clown Pumpkin Painting Ideas

In our family, we hate clowns so Pennywise the clown from It (2017, 2019) scared the living daylights out of us. In terms of movie pumpkin carving ideas, clown pumpkin painting ideas are just creepy without the gore. Although my kids still haven’t seen Joker (2019) just because ….

Clown pumpkin painting ideas don’t come much scarier than Pennywise from the movie, It.

Day of the Dead Skull Pumpkin

Day of the Dead pumpkin carvings are appropriate because the Mexican celebration is actually a few days long. Day of the Dead always starts on October 31st. It’s also great for movie pumpkin carving ideas because of the great Pixar movie, Coco from 2019.

Day of the dead pumpkin carving that is also n0-carve easy peasy.

Elmo Halloween Pumpkin

My kids LOVED Elmo when they were toddlers. Seriously, we had season passes to Sesame Place in Langhorne Pennsylvania. Then it was my niece and nephew’s turn to adore Elmo.

An Elmo Halloween pumpkin is an easy starter pumpkin for young kids. If you don’t want to go stick red yarn all over a pumpkin like the one shown below, just paint a pumpkin red.

An Elmo Halloween pumpkin that doesn’t involve any carving

Halloween for Adults

Why should have all the fun? Especially as our kids have gotten older and don’t need to be supervised on Halloween, we have had Halloween parties for ourselves.

Here are two ideas that involve Halloween and drinking…. a common theme at Halloween for adults.

First we have this cute hippie flower girl sipping her Margarita.

Flower Child Jack O’Lantern drinking a margarita

Halloween for adults involves a lot of booze – no reason your Jack O’Lantern can’t get into the action!

Another pumpkin that is strictly Halloween for adults is this one that sticks a beverage dispenser with a spout valve for serving your favourite adult beverage.