Bloggers, join Green Planet Parties, Green Gifts Guide, Surf Sweets, A Little Bit of Momsense and of course, Green Halloween, for a Greening Your Halloween Blogfest!

Need content or ideas to get your creative pumpkin juices flowing? Click here for our pre-written posts or here for EEK-o-fab article ideas.

The Greening Your Halloween Blog Carnival is encouraging bloggers to write about the big or small ways they are making an effort to make their halloween more eco-friendly.  Costume swaps, making your own costumes, using reusable bags, reusing decorations, and rethinking candy are all ways that families can start to make a change.  Want to participate? Write your post, share your tips and ideas and get Green!

by Corey

Check out these eek-o-fabulous tips for greening your Halloween from our friend, organizing expert, Lorie Marrero.

Love what you see? Find more of Lorie’s great ideas for greening your Halloween scene in this article at GoodHousekeeping.com, where Lorie is a contributing blogger.

Even more cool tips at ClutterDiet.com!

About Lorie: Certified Professional Organizer® Lorie Marrero is the bestselling author of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life. She is also the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative program allowing anyone to get expert help at an affordable price. Her organizing books and products are sold online and in stores nationwide. Lorie is the spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, and she is a sought-after expert for national media such as CNBC, Family Circle, WGN News and Woman’s Day. She writes weekly as the organizing expert for Good Housekeeping’s Home Style blog. Learn more about Goodwill’s Donate Movement here.

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Last week, we created a post on how not to get your hands dirty while decorating your pumpkin.  This week, were going to cover five fun and creative pumpkin carving ideas that you can share with your neighbors and family.

Pumpkin Got  A Boo-Boo:

This pumpkin needs a band-aid and a kiss!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• Carving tools

• Scissors
• White reflective tape

Instructions

1. Carve a pumpkin with a mouth resembling stitches.
2. Cut white reflective tape into thin strips of varying lengths.
3. Place the strips on the pumpkin as shown.

Vampire Pumpkins:

The adults can do the carving while the kids put in a new set of fangs!

Vampire Tools and Materials

Thumbtack or pin
Small white pumpkin (For a big bite, choose a small pumpkin so the plastic vampire teeth seem huge)
Miniature saw
Plastic vampire teeth
Small red map tacks
Mouth template

Vampire Pumpkin How-To

1. Print mouth template. Lay template on pumpkin, and poke thumbtack through, all along outline, to transfer design. Cut out with saw; remove excess flesh.
2. Wedge teeth into hole.
3. For eyes, pin map tacks onto pumpkin.
4. Fangs, partycity.com. Map pins, 1/8 inch, in Red; latitudesmapstore.net.

Zombie Pumpkins:

Easy white pumpkins with googly eyes and a crooked smile....too cute!

Tools and Materials

Miniature saw
Small pumpkin (For a petrifying pale complexion, look for a white pumpkin)
Plastic eyeballs
Thumbtack or pin

1. For the eyes, hold sharpened chain saw at an angle and cut 2 cone-shaped holes into the pumpkin. The diameter of the holes should be slightly smaller than the eyeballs’ diameter.
2. Print mouth template. Lay template on pumpkin, and poke tack through, all along outline, to transfer design. Cut along that outline with saw, and remove excess flesh.
3. Wedge eyeballs into holes.

Fishy Food Chain Jack O’ Lantern:

Carve a pumpkin top into a fish and bind it together with toothpicks!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• 2 small pumpkins
• Carving tools

• Toothpicks
• 1 small gourd

 

Instructions

1. Carve the pumpkins as shown, cutting the mouths from the tops of the pumpkins. Break off the stems.
2. Cut a small piece from the large fish’s tail fin and secure it to the head with toothpicks.
3. Use toothpicks to attach the tail fins to the bottoms of the pumpkins.
4. Secure a gourd in the large fish’s eye socket with toothpicks.

Shish-Ka-Boo Jack O’ Lantern:

Feed this hungry pumpkin!

Materials

• 1 large pumpkin
• 3 mini pumpkins
• Carving tools
• Used work glove
• Old shirt

• Leaves
• Wire hanger
• Rock
• Skewer
• Black permanent marker

Instructions

1. Carve a pumpkin with an extra-large mouth.
2. Stuff a work glove and one sleeve of an old shirt with leaves.
3. Bend a support for the arm and hand from a wire hanger. Fit one end into the glove and feed the opposite end through the sleeve.
4. Sit the pumpkin on the shirt. Brace the arm from behind with a rock and cover the rest of the shirt with leaves.
5. Push a skewer through three mini pumpkins. Draw a face on each with black permanent marker, then set the skewer in place.

Blogger Laurali Star can be found on The Damsel in the Attic!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

by Corey

#Win a HUGE Green Halloween prize pack!

Just follow us on Twitter, then send us this tweet:

“@GreenHalloween: Please pick me to #win a #GreenHalloweenPrizePack!”

And you’ll be entered to win great, green goodies worth over $200!

Prizes include:

Angell Bar – Sample pack: 2 bars each Crisp, Dark, Snow, 1 Organic cotton T-shirt and assorted stickers

Natural Luxe – Shainsware recycled bracelet for kids

Eli’s Earth Bars – 6 bars

Revolution Foods™ – Organic Snack Packs! Reusable paper lunchbox for kids filled with samples of Grammy Sammys, Jammy Sammys, Mashups and Yo’ Drops, Tattoos and stickers for kids, and coupons for mom.

Terra Firma Cosmetics – Gift certificate for our Halloween Face Paint set

Select Preserve food storage products

thredUP – 1 box. Browse thousands of boxes of pre-loved kids Halloween costumes, clothes, toys or books listed by other moms across the country.  Giveaway includes a promo code that can be used for one box & shipping

Eco Party Time – Felt pumpkin Trick-or-Treat basket plus Kids Floral Perfume Trilogy

Good for You Girls – Complete Skin Care Starter Kit

LiveGreene.com – Orange Vapur anti-bottles

Limited edition, reusable 2011 Green Halloween ChicoBag®

Total prize value = $200+

WOW!

Giveaway rules:

• Enter by following @GreenHalloween on Twitter, then posting the phrase: “@GreenHalloween: Please pick me to #win a #GreenHalloweenPrizePack!” Phrase MUST be posted to Twitter (not Facebook, blog post, etc.). You must be a follower of @GreenHalloween to win.
• One post per twitter account. You will receive up to 10 extra entries for up to 10 re-tweets by your followers.
• Tweet must be posted by 11:59pm PST on 10/31/11
• We are not responsible for Tweets that do not post or do not post correctly
• You must be 18 to win and live in the continental US
• Winner will be contacted via Twitter no later than November 15th, 2011 and winner’s Twitter handle will be announced on Twitter and Facebook.
• Winner will have 7 days to reply to Green Halloween with their name/shipping address.
• Green Halloween and partners are not responsible for winning announcement that doesn’t make it through to the winner (via Twitter), lost or damaged prizes.
• Prize partners may send prizes of equivalent value and/or gift certificates for free product in lieu of actual gifts.
• If you have questions about products, please contact the product companies directly.

For more ways to win gifts & goodies from our green partners, click here.

Every year we go to our local grocery store or jaunt our kids to the pumpkin patch to choose the perfect pumpkin to carve with the kiddies. I will not use anything else but my Carlson Knives set, just to be striaght from the start. This time were coming up with some virtually untouched pumpkins and their gourd cousins for some no-carve decorations!  It’s easy, simple, and so much fun to do!  So get in tune with your creative side, have your kids handy, and get ready to create a masterpiece!  No fuss, no mess!

Veggie Head Pumpkins:

Use veggies already stocked in your fridge to create this fun work of art!

Materials

• Pumpkin
• Assortment of produce

• Toothpicks
• Small hammer

Instructions

1. Let kids plan out funny or creepy faces while parents take care of any necessary cutting.
2. Attach the facial features like radish eyes, apple ears, and green onion hair with toothpicks. Use a small hammer to tap the picks through larger, thicker pieces too difficult to push through by hand.

Cut out facial parts and color to create a Mr. Pumpkin design!

 

Materials

• Permanent marker
• Adhesive-backed felt
• Scissors

• Cereal-box cardboard
• Flat thumbtacks
• Toothpick

Instructions

1. To make the mix-and-match parts, use a permanent marker to draw eyes, noses, mouths, and other facial features onto adhesive-backed felt. Cut out the shapes, then use them as templates to cut matching shapes from cereal-box cardboard.
2. Press flat thumbtacks through the cardboard pieces, then stick on the matching pieces of adhesive felt.
3. For ears that stick out, omit the tack and sandwich half a toothpick between the felt and cardboard.

Ghost Disguised as a Pumpkin:

"2 in 1 Ghost Pumpkin Disguise using silly paints!"

Materials

• White pumpkin
• Orange, black and yellow acrylic paints

• Paintbrushes

Instructions

1. Paint an orange “face” on the front of the pumpkin. If white pumpkins aren’t available, fake it by painting a regular pumpkin white first, leaving only the face area orange.
2. Paint black and yellow features.
3. Finish off by adding a big toothy grin. Boo!

Painted Pumpkins:

Let your kids become the next Picasso with this fun, no boundaries pumpkin painting project!

 

Materials

• Pumpkins
• Tempera paint and brushes
• Yogurt containers

• Newspaper
• Masking tape

Instructions

1. Cover a table with newspaper (tape it down with masking tape so it stays covered).
2. Set out liquid tempera paints, paintbrushes and plastic yogurt containers filled with water for rinsing the brushes.
3. Let the kids paint goofy or creepy faces on the pumpkins.

Wicked Witchy Pumpkin:

Paint your pumpkin green and cast an artsy spell on it for a spooky surprise!

 

Materials

• Pumpkin
• Green spray paint
• Tempera paint and brushes
• Carving knife
• Marbles

• Glue
• Small nails
• Black wig
• Cape
• Witch hat

Instructions

1. Begin by coating the pumpkin with green spray paint.
2. Add facial features with tempera paint.
3. Next, carve out eye sockets and lodge the marbles inside to form her beady eyes. Break off the top stem and reattach it to the pumpkin with glue for the witch’s nose.
4. To finish, fix the black wig in place with small nails and add the cape and hat. My…pretty!

Stay tuned for next week’s post on fun pumpkin carving ideas!

Check out blogger Laurali Star on The Damsel in the Attic!

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.