Halloween is one of the biggest holidays in North America with some of the best activities. Obviously our favorite is pumpkin carving. The awesome thing is that you don’t have to be an artist to make a great pumpkin.

You have so many options, from the standard classic halloween pumpkin carving patterns like bats, ghosts, cats and spooky scary haunted halloween houses to cartoon characters like Scooby-Doo, Elmo, or even Buzz Lightyear. The biggest stencils in 2010 are Lady Gaga Pumpkin Stencils and even Justin Bieber Pumpkin Stencils.

For tons of pumpkin carving patterns to carve the coolest pumpkin ever visit www.Ultimate-Pumpkin-Stencils.com

Halloween is one of those funny days around the office. Either you participate or you don’t . And for most offices, participation means dressing up. Nothing makes you feel a ridiculous like putting on your Gumby costume complete with green makeup … only to find  no one else has dressed up.

It’s time for Halloween to be the Morale Booster celebration around the office. And you don’t have to do a lot to make it happen.

• People can dress up if they like
• get a punch bowl and fill it up with “spooky-red-punch”
• maybe even put on some scary music
• have everyone put a bowl of their favorite halloween candy out for inter-department-trick-or-treating

But the way to get everyone involved in the Halloween office party is simple.  Pumpkin Carving Contest.

Armed with a enough stencils for everyone to have a bit of choice, a couple hours out of the afternoon filled with some laughs,  some goodies and a sugar-fueled euphoria will help instill a little more team feeling for the staff. Imagine the look on Greg from Accounting’s face when he carves Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake as Dick in a Box. Be sure to have some good little tools for all the teams too. Pumpkin Carving Tools can be found starting in August in most craft stores or from online vendors.

Prizes can be awarded for

• Best Pumpkin Carving
• Worst Pumpkin Carving
• Best Team Effort
• Best Team Spirit
• … almost anything you can think of.

Try one of our pumpkin stencil packages for small offices or contact us if you have a large office. We’re happy to provide bulk rates for those offices needing a large number of stencils.

It’s been a big tradition around our house. Dad gets the first job of cleaning the pumpkin, piling the guts and seeds into a big bowl and passing the rest off to the others. Then dad gets the dirty work, the kids get the fun of carving and then mom….well we get the rest! For years my job has been the seeds.

It’s best to start the seeds as soon as possible as once they dry in the pumpkin guts it’s almost impossible to separate them. Once the seeds are separated you’ll need to thoroughly rinse them under cold water. Use a strainer and let the water run over them, pull out as much of the pumpkin pump as possible.

Use a lightly oiled baking sheet or spray with non stick spray. Use one of the recommended recipes below and place the baking sheet in a preheated oven at 325 degrees. I find that stirring every 5 minutes works well and on average (depending on how plump and moist the seeds are) it takes 25 minutes. Once the pumpkin seeds are golden brown remove from the oven and let cool. Don’t forget that once they are cooled to place them in an airtight container so they don’t stale. At our house they usually don’t make it that far. Dad and kids arrive to finish their job by sneaking the seeds off the hot tray.

Here are a few recipe ideas for creating the perfect pumpkin seed flavours.

1) Salt – The most popular style. Just sprinkle before you place the seeds in the oven.
2) Cumin – Sharp and pungent. This is our favourite! Add some salt, cinnamon and ginger…even a pinch of cayenne to kick it up a notch.
3) Sweet and Sour – bake the seeds at a lower temperature until light golden blonde and then in a warm skillet mix same ingredients as above (1/4 tsp of each) and 3 tablespoons of granular sugar with 1 tablespoon of peanut oil and the baked pumpkin seeds. Don’t leave for even a second as this stage does not take long. Continually stir and toss till the sugar melts and the seeds start to caramelize. Maximum one minute.
4) Desert seeds – mmmm brown sugar and cinnamon! Use butter flavoured cooking spray and it almost tastes like apple pie….without the apples of course
5) Hot and Spicy – hot sauce, cayenne, ancho chili powder, salt, and black pepper. Try a little bit of fresh lime juice just before eating and you’ve got yourself a little bit of Mexico.

Impress your neighbors by decorating up your house for Halloween. First choose your favorite Halloween pumpkin stencils and print it off on card stock. Get some thin craft foam from your local craft supplier and tape the printed stencil to it. Use a sharp carving knife purchased from the hardware store and start with your smallest sections. If you tackle the largest sections first your small parts will break.

Once your pumpkin stencil is carved out into the foam remove the stencil and you now have your jackolantern template….although you won’t be using it on a pumpkin you will now create decorative glowing images in your windows!

Glow in the dark spray paint is available at your local craft store during the Halloween season. Major craft stores say Halloween supplies can be found as early as August.

Make sure that your windows are clean and you have a drop cloth over nearby furniture so that when the lights go out you don’t have glowing furniture. Take your freshly carved jackolantern template and tape it to your window. Hold the spray can about 4 inches away and put a few coats of fine spray over the stencil. Watch out for overspray!

Once the paint is dry remove the jackolantern template and turn off your lights….run down your road and check out your first Halloween decoration. Even in the dark your neighbours will know you are ready for the trick or treaters.

The more pumpkin stencils the better! Pick from black cats and scary witches, hannibal lector and the grim reaper, even some glowing jackolanterns will make your window. Purchase colored glow in the dark spray as well….a green glowing incredible hulk stencil will stand out.

Enjoy your glowing experience…who said that pumpkin stencils are only for pumpkins.

As I do my research on pumpkin carving I realize that as I throw away the guts of the pumpkin that I’m missing out on some health advantages. Pumpkins are low in fat, low in calories and loaded with vitamins.

Pumpkins are very good for your heart because it’s high in potassium. Potassium is a high electrolyte of your body. Potassium lowers blood pressure, improves the use of insulin in your body, and improves symptoms of depression and anxiety. If there isn’t enough potassium in your system it results in fatigue, muscle cramping and constant muscle fatigue.

As it’s a rich orange color you can tell that it’s also high in beta carotene. Just like carrots eating too much will also give you a nice warm glow. Beta carotene is a great antioxidant and it’s also said to help promote better eye sight. Beta carotene converts to Vitamin A in the body. Beta carotene is known as one of the preventors of cancer and also reduces heart disease.

So as you throw away your pumpkin carving guts remember that you are missing a huge health benefit. Here are a few ideas to use what you once thought was waste.

After you remove the seeds from your pile of guts, place the guts in a food processor and blend. Keep blending until it’s the texture of apple sauce. Make sure that you avoid putting pumpkin peel in the mix…this doesn’t taste too good. One cup (8oz) of raw pumpkin equals 30 calories.

This blended pumpkin is then good for use in pumpkin pies, bread, muffins, baby food, soups and stuffed pasta.

Health myths? Pumpkins were once thought to rid freckles. A facial mask of pumpkin sauce was smeared on the face and left till dry. Once removed it was supposed to lessen the appearance of freckles.

Pumpkins were also known to aid in snake bite remedies. Once bitten a poultice of pumpkin was applied to the bite and the pumpkin poultice would extract the poison.

Pumpkin seeds have been said to help men with prostrate cancer. Eat lots of seeds and avoid it and eats lots of seeds to solve it? There are only so many seeds in a pumpkin to eat so it looks like you should plan on carving a lot of pumpkins this year.

Having a Halloween office party? Here are some planning tips:

Pick pumpkins that aren’t too big. This will cut down on the amount of prep time. Not to mention the bigger the pumpkin the more mess to clean up.
Distribute your pumpkins to each team the day before so that they can clean it before the contest starts. Have them only carve the top stem and empty the insides of the pumpkin. Actual pumpkin carving should take place during the contest.

Garbage bags or plastic drop sheets: These are used to keep your floors clean.
Allow teams to bring their own pumpkin carving tools. Select one pumpkin stencil per team and hide each stencil in an envelope. Have each team draw a random envelope to determine which stencil they should carve. Designate a time limit for the contest. Everyone can carve the perfect pumpkin if given a longer time frame. Shorten your time limit for a more exciting challenge.

Send the following email to your staff. Be sure to include location, dates and times of your event:

Pumpkin Carving Contest Announcement example:

Welcome all Halloween carvers! Here are your official rules for the Ultimate Pumpkin Carving Contest. Please choose your pumpkin carving teams. Teams may have only up to 3 members. One member holds the pumpkin, one person does the carving and one person holds the band-aids. Be prepared to get your hands dirty. Bring your ultimate pumpkin carving tools (power tools allowed!). Pumpkins will issued 24 hours prior to the carving contest and must be prepped prior to arrival at the pumpkin carving contest. Please remember that the only cutting allowed prior to the contest is the section around the stem in which you will remove the guts and prepare your pumpkin for carving. Please leave all pumpkin guts at home.

There will be a bonus contests for the best pumpkin seeds. Originality and best flavour will take home the special prizes.

Please arrive with your team prepared with garbage bags to protect the floor and your tools in hand. You will select one of our random envelopes where we have previously stuffed with Ultimate Pumpkin Stencils. We have selected higher difficultly pumpkin stencils just to make it a fun day full of oops and bad words. Don’t forget your toothpicks to stitch your mistakes back together. Of course there will be a time limit, do you think we’d select something difficult and give you all day to carve it? Highly unlikely!

HINTS to the HOSTS: Prize suggestions: Prizes for the most oops, prizes for the best overall, prizes for the loudest team, prize to the team with the most spirit.

HINT to the HOSTS: Send pictures of your prize winners to info@ultimate-pumpkin-stencils.com and they could be displayed or even eligible for prizes

Here are preservation tips:

1) Vaseline: who would have ever thought that this slippery stuff would be the answer? Simply carve your pumpkin using scary pumpkin stencils and then take a generous scoop of Vaseline and line the entire pumpkin with the gel. Vaseline helps the inside flesh from dehydration. Don’t forget to cover the areas where you cut! This has been tested and the average life of a carved pumpkin is 9 days.

2) White Glue: I would have thought this one would have made a pumpkin hold together forever but it’s not true. White Glue has been tested and on average the carved pumpkin using scary pumpkin stencils lasted an average of 6 days. Simply cover the inside of the carved pumpkin with white glue found at your local hardware or craft store. The white glue is intended to dry and seal the pumpkin. Creating a barrier block to preserve the pumpkin’s inside from dehydrating.

3) Bleach: The 10 day solution we found effective…although don’t put your pumpkin anywhere that don’t want the color to bleach out of! We found a nice white patch on our driveway when we moved our pumpkin. Remember to watch where your pumpkin sits using this technique and put a plastic dish below if you are worried about what bleach can do. For bleaching, simply carve your pumpkin using a scary pumpkin stencil and then soak the pumpkin in a pail of bleach solution (1 tsp. bleach/gallon water) for 8 hours. Unfortunately this preservation option requires some maintenance. Every day you will be required to spray the insides of your pumpkin with a mild bleach solution. Please be cautious not to drop any solution on clothing. This method hydrates your pumpkin on a daily basis and the bleach is an antimicrobial.

4) Using an antifungal solution such as Pumpkin Fresh was the best solution but again required daily maintenance. Pumpkin Fresh contains water, sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax), and sodium benzoate (a preservative and fungicide). This option made our funny pumpkin last for 14 days! Make sure you follow directions on the Pumpkin Fresh label.

5) Refrigerator: well this seems to work well if you only have one pumpkin but if your house is like ours than this is not a good option. We would have to buy 10 refrigerators in order to hold all our pumpkins. We carved 12 pumpkins this year! We used stencils for the kids from their beginner stencils and my husband and I had a contest using the advanced stencils to see who’s was best. After that the neighbourhoods’ attention caused it to be a nightly challenge. 12 pumpkins later the porch was a masterpiece! Bringing 12 pumpkins in everyday for refrigerator time was not going to work….lol….where do you put all the food when the pumpkins are in the fridge?

A pumpkin without lighting just doesn’t look right. It’s dull and boring…almost no Halloween spirit. Just think…how could your neighbours even see it in the dark?

Let’s discover ways in which you can light your pumpkin – the traditional ways and the smart ways!

Candle Light – knew you knew that one but we haven’t explored the ways to properly light your pumpkin with a candle so that you don’t ruin it. Tealights work well as the flames are not tall and the wax is contained. But most don’t think about ventilation. Candles produce heat which dehydrate your pumpkin or in some cases even cooks it! Make sure your base where the pumpkin is going to sit is nice and flat. Place your tealight in the pumpkin (that is nicely carved with a scary pumpkin stencil from our site…sorry had to add that in…lol) and insert the top onto the pumpkin. This will allow you to determine the area in which the smoke will heat the roof. Only leave the top on for about a minute and remove it to determine where a chimney is required. Cut the area in which the smoke has damaged the roof with a pumpkin carving knife in an angled motion creating a cone shape. Make the inside of the pumpkin have the base of the cone and the outside peel be a smaller shape.

Pumpkin lights (purchased at many retail outlets or online stores) – this pumpkin light usually have mini lights and have options to have a constant light or a static light which resembles a flicker. This works well but you must remember to turn it off when you go to bed as it does not die out and will be permanently burnt out by the next morning if you forget to flick the switch

Light bulb – carve your top lid on the bottom instead. Use a light bulb with a base and place your carved pumpkin (without a bottom) ontop of the lightbulb. This option works well but most light bulbs create heat which cooks your pumpkin and you will visually see this option from the outside as the light bulb is very large.

Christmas mini lights – why put these in the basement closet and forget about it. Take a stapler and staple these throughout the inside of your pumpkin. No heat and no mess…you utilize something in your closet! Try using a small set of multi color lights with a blinker bulb…you’ll be the only one with this cool display.

Plastic tealights – these are a new option to lighting your pumpkin as they haven’t been out long. These can be found at more specialty store that sell home décor. They are the size of a tealight but produce little to no heat and no smoke! What’s even better is they flicker like a regular candle. The downside is that most have a switch that must be turned off when you go to bed so that the battery doesn’t die. These are a great option to light your pumpkin as it will also help to increase the life of the pumpkin.

Glow sticks – these provide about 4 hours of light and do not heat. They are also very safe so the perfect choice for children. However, make sure your pumpkin is in a dark place as the light is not as bright as candle light.

Please remember never to leave your pumpkin light and unattended around children. Make sure that your pumpkin is outside if using a candle and on a concrete (or inflammable base) It’s a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy when lighting your pumpkin with a heat source.

Choosing the right pumpkin sounds like a silly topic. How can there be a “right pumpkin”? Are there wrong pumpkins? Are some pumpkins destined to great things while others will try to ruin your Halloween?

I don’t think you’ll end up with any pumpkin disasters, but there certainly are a few things to look for when if you’re planning on carving that little orange beast. You may want to jot down a few of the following notes before you pack up the family and head to the Pumpkin Patch.

Choosing the Right Pumpkin

1. What comes first? The Pumpkin or the Stencil? If you have already looked through a bunch of pumpkin carving stencils and have narrowed down the list, take a closer look at your favorites. Some will definitely work better on elongated pumpkins than short round ones. If you haven’t already chosen your stencil, then the following hints will help out even more.

2. Flat Bottom Girls. A pumpkin may be beautiful in every way, but if the bottom isn’t flat, she just may take herself for a roll down the neighborhood. If you’re choosing your pumpkin from the supermarket, set it on the ground first. A flat floor will show just how level the pumpkin is. You’ll want to use the smoothest side for carving and if it won’t stay level when it’s turned to that side, you’ll wish you had used another. If you’re literally picking a pumpkin from the patch, bring along a small piece of plywood. Dirt is too forgiving when it comes to check the level.

3. Itchy and Scratchy. Blemishes and scarring can be a good thing or a bad thing. In some cases those ugly marks on a pumpkin may add a really cool effect. For example, if you’re carving an ugly old witch, she may look super cool with a warty-looking face. If you’re caring an intricate design, look for the clearest skin you can.

4. To eat or not to eat. That may be the question, but the answer is simple. The smaller, the tastier. If you’re just using the pumpkin to carve, then you’ll likely want to find a big fella. But if you plan on carving one day and chowing down, the next, you should know that once a pumpkin gets past a 10″ diameter, you’re not going to want to eat it. Too much of the sugar gets lost, but even less appetizing is it get’s stringy. Gross. BUT WAIT… just because you’re not going to eat it, doesn’t mean Fido won’t.
HINT FROM THE 4-LEGGED: Many dogs LOVE pumpkin. And it’s good for them too. You can feed it to them raw. Just cut off the outer skin and toss them a chunk. If they don’t gobble it up, I would question their canine-ness. If raw isn’t their thing, bake it for a while. They may like that nuttier flavor and softer texture.
WARNING FROM THE 2-LEGGED: Doggy eating too much pumpkin may cause for bigger cleanups in the back yard. Like every treat, moderation is best. You don’t want to have to get up with Fluffy in the middle of the night because she needs an extra trip around the block.

AND ONE LAST TIP: A younger, less-ripe pumpkin is going to last you a little longer. Of course we’re talking about carving pumpkins. Less ripe means less taste, but it also means when you carve it, it may last longer. You’ll want to get these directly from the local pumpkin patch.

Have fun choosing the right pumpkin for you.