There are many fun events that can be done on Halloween and many families have made it a tradition to carve pumpkins on the night before Halloween. The family will visit a farmer who has grown hundreds of pumpkins in his field just for this one special night of the year that some refer to as Halloween. These orange colored gourds are used for more things, but carving a pumpkin is at the top of the list.



Most pumpkins are displayed in grocery stores in loose piles throughout the store. Pumpkins serve as store decorations for many weeks and store managers hope that they will put shoppers into the holiday shopping spirit. Many families will select several pumpkins and take them home in the car. The children will wait patiently for the time when they can begin carving the pumpkin that was chosen by them.

Some have been taught the skills that would be needed to create a Jack-O-Lantern. Those that are not old enough to hold a knife can sit by patiently and offer advice on how they would like the pumpkin to look when all of the carving is done. Parents will certain caution children several times about using skill while carving Halloween pumpkins. Some children might prefer for their parents to make the first cut at the top of the soon to be Jack-O-Lantern.

Some children take the time to organize all of the tools that they will need for their family project. They will gather colored markers with dark ink and ask their parent for some newspaper. Some parents prefer that the carving be done outdoors because Mom certainly does not want to spend half the night washing and cleaning the floors after the juice from the pumpkin comes out after a few cuts.

Children use their skills to draw funny faces on the front of the pumpkin they chose. Some of those faces will boast very large smiles which will later be carved through the pumpkin until they reach the middle. These happy pumpkins will most likely be placed in the front row of pumpkins and by tradition, all of them will be put on the front porch. These friendly faces are sure to entice many children to knock on the door on Halloween night.

Some pumpkin carving will require greater skills because the faces that are carved on the pumpkin will be very detailed. From experience, the family knows that these pumpkins will scare some children away before they reach the front door. Most of the skill that the children will need to create carvings of eyebrows that arch at funny angles is a great deal of concentration. They will focus their skillful cutting expertise on forming eyes in all shapes and sizes and they know that the mouth is the hardest thing to carve because this carving work must be made to look like a very evil snarl.