How to Host a Pumpkin Carving Party

A Pumpkin Carving Party is a Halloween tradition your family can start this fall season! This easy-to-host event is a great way to gather together with friends and family in the days before Halloween.

My husband and I have been hosting some version of a Pumpkin Carving Party for 20+ years now, so I wanted to share all of my tips for making your own party a success.

1. When to Host a Pumpkin Carving Party

This may seem obvious, but if you've never thrown a Pumpkin Carving Party before, how would you know the best day to have one? This will (of course) depend on what day Halloween falls on the calendar. We usually try to schedule our party for the weekend day closest to Halloween. This way, your jack-o'-lanterns have the best shot of making it all the way to Halloween.

Plan to invite everyone over around dinner time for dinner or party food. Then let the carving begin!

Some people prefer to start their parties early in the afternoon, but I find that not everyone has carved a pumpkin before OR people want to carve elaborate designs. And that takes time. If you go this route, people will tend to want to hang out to see what the last few folks carving are doing. 

So, make sure you leave plenty of time for the carving portion of the evening if you want to begin before dinner, as it's not always a quick task. And if you want to add any other activities to your evening (like a scary movie afterward) make sure to account for that too. Plan for the carving portion of the party to take about 2 hours.

2. Bring Your Own Pumpkin - BYOP

We have hosted so many Pumpkin Carving Parties (both adults-only, kids-only, and mixed groups). We usually specify on the invitations to BYOP - bring your own pumpkin. That way, everyone who participates is sure to be happy with the pumpkin they're carving. However, make sure to have a few extra pumpkins on hand in case someone forgets to bring their pumpkin and wants to participate. 

A lot of times, if you visit farms or pumpkin patches in the fall season, they will let kiddos of a certain age leave with a free small pumpkin (about the size of the one Aidyn is holding in the photo shown below). You can either let your own kids carve these (if they are old enough), or keep these as "extras" for anyone who may need a pumpkin the night of your party. 

3. What to Wear to a Pumpkin Carving Party

Unlike other Halloween parties, I usually don't encourage costumes for this particular party because of all of the pumpkin guts, which can get messy. When you send out invitations, you may want to specify "costumes not encouraged" so that anyone who has not attended a pumpkin carving party will know not to come in costume. 

Our family usually wears our Halloween finery in the form of Halloween colors or Halloween T-shirts to the party to keep with the spirit of the season. Here are two photos of my son Jaxon (one at his very first Pumpkin Carving Party in 2008 and then another in 2019 rocking his custom "One Cool Jax-O-Lantern" T-shirt).

4. Get Your Pumpkin Carving Supplies Ready

Some common supplies that you might want to have on hand for your Pumpkin Carving Party are:

• extra trash bags (to spread on tables and for collecting pumpkin seeds and guts / these are easier to find nowadays than newspapers)
• Ziploc bags (for pumpkin seeds, if anyone wants to take theirs home)
• Clorox wipes or Clorox spray & paper towels (for cleaning the outside of pumpkins & for general cleanup)
• candles & lighter or battery operated jack-o-lantern lights (one for each pumpkin)
• knives, large metal spoons & metal ice cream scoops
• pumpkin carving kit with tools & patterns
• markers (for freehanding patterns on pumpkins)
• alcohol or nail polish remover (for removing marker from pumpkins)

And, if you've got any little kids coming to your party, you might want to have some mini pumpkins and Halloween stickers and washable markers (or other craft supplies) that they can use to decorate pumpkins without carving them.

If everyone at your party is young (or parents with young kids), think about hosting a Pumpkin Decorating Party instead. Here are a few creative no carve pumpkin ideas:

• Pumpkin Decorating Party
• Pumpkin Decorating Party 2015

5. What Music Can I Play at My Pumpkin Carving Party?

Set the mood for your party by spinning some Halloween tunes! Choose from songs on these two Halloween playlists to get started:

• What Music Can I Play at My Halloween Party (Besides The Monster Mash)? (includes 26 songs)
• The Only Country Halloween Playlist You'll Need (includes 16 songs)

6. Pumpkin Carving Party Menu

My best tip for the menu is to keep it simple. For our Pumpkin Carving Parties, we usually serve party foods. This way, if guests offer to bring an appetizer or a dessert, you can take them up on their offer to help fill out your party menu. 

And, this time of year, there are lots of seasonal items in stores. So if you don't have time to make individual recipes, it's easy to fill out the menu with purchased seasonal items (for example, pumpkin spice cupcakes from the bakery section, caramel popcorn, etc.). 

Here are some popular party recipes that we serve from year-to-year at our Pumpkin Carving Party.

• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Pepper Jelly (served over cream cheese with crackers)
• Black Bean Salsa (served with corn chips)
• Pineapple Marmalade Brie (served with bread)
• Spicy Chex Mix
• Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
• Holiday M&M Cookie Bars
• Pumpkin Crunch Cake
• Crockpot Witch's Brew (spiced Apple Cider)
• Non-Alcoholic Party Punch (we always make grape for Halloween)

Butter Cookies with Sprinkles

Another route to go for your Pumpkin Carving Party would be to make an easy meal that serves a big crowd. Any of these recipes would fit the bill.

• Kicking Butt and Taking Names Chili (meat recipe)
• Crockpot Vegan Chili (vegan/vegetarian recipe)
• Taco Soup (includes both vegetarian and meat recipes)
• Sloppy Joes (meat recipe)
• Crockpot Vegetarian Sloppy Joes (vegetarian recipe)

Sloppy Joes

Whichever type of menu you choose, make sure people know that your party is low-key and that people are welcome to serve themselves at any time during the party. For example, that they don't have to wait until everyone is finished carving pumpkins to grab a bite to eat!

7. Light Up the Pumpkins and Make Sure to Take Photos

When everyone is finished carving their pumpkins, make sure to light the pumpkins and take photos. You'll enjoy seeing not only the carved creations from year-to-year, but how the party-goers (especially kids) change! Here are some of our pumpkin carving party photos through the years:

If you follow these 7 tips, your Pumpkin Carving Party will be a success. But don't forget that the biggest tip of all is just to HAVE FUN! 

Some Other Ideas for Halloween Fun:

• Taking Halloween Photos with Jack-O-Lantern Smoke Bombs
• 20 Halloween Activities for Teenagers
• Wine and Candy Tasting Halloween Party

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