IDEAS
Pumpkin carving ideas
Pick a style or a subject below. Each page has ideas you can carve, tips for that subject, and free stencils that print at actual size. Remember the one rule of a lit pumpkin: whatever you cut is what glows, so bold shapes and a few big openings read best from the sidewalk.
Faces and styles
Classic jack-o'-lantern faces are the easiest place to start. Scary, cute and funny designs change the mood with the shape of the eyes and mouth more than with detail.
Halloween subjects
Silhouettes carve well because the outline does the work. Cut the shape so it glows, or cut a moon around it so the shape stays dark.
Pets
How-to guides
- Easy pumpkin carving ideas for beginners
- How to carve a pumpkin, step by step
- Carve a real face into a pumpkin
- Pumpkin carving tools and kits
- Pumpkin carving with kids
- Pumpkin carving party ideas
- Pumpkin carving contest ideas
- Make a carved pumpkin last longer
Every free design is also in the free stencil library, 107 stencils in all.
From your own photo
The idea people remember is the one that looks like someone they know. CarveKin turns a photo of your dog, cat or kid into a pattern that prints at the size you choose, repaired so every piece stays attached. One pattern is $4.99.
Make a pattern from your photo
Stencil images are digital previews of designs drawn from AI-made sample images and illustrations, not photos of carved pumpkins.