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For all your pumpkin needs on Halloween

By katie on 30 October 2009  |  No Comments

Happy Halloween, HOTorNOTers!

It’s finally freakin’ here – the event where, for one glorious, ghoulish day, we can all transform into hussies, pimps, zombies, vampires, demons, celebrities, drag queens, freaks, and geeks and nobody will bat a fake spidery eyelash at us.

But dressing up is only part of what’s truly important about this celebrated day. The tradition of gutting and carving a pumpkin and placing it on your doorstep in the hopes of horrifying young trick-or-treaters is also an extremely important part of Halloween. We’ve seen the basic, uninspired Jack-o-lantern pattern since we were kindergartners; we could etch triangle eyes and a big ol’ smile into pumpkin skin in our sleep and frankly we’re bored to death of such unoriginal pumpkins that fail, year after year, to evoke either fear or awe. How do you think these pumpkins feel when they see that other people on the street have actually put some creativity and thought into their defacing strategy?

So, before you get knife-happy and jab your pumpkin in the face without a plan, consider what “mood”  you want to create. Do you want a sexy pumpkin? A terrifying pumpkin? A cute a cuddly pumpkin? Maybe you want a pumpkin that doesn’t even look like a jack-o-lantern at all (click here to see what we mean – you’re gonna love this).

Here’s a whole photo gallery of the world’s best Jack-o-lanterns (via CollegeHumor) for inspiration.

And don’t forget about the best part of carving a pumpkin: roasting those yummy seeds afterwards (once you’ve untangled them from the innards and have given ‘em a good rinse, of course). So, instead of risking your life by venturing outside on Devil’s Night (aka Halloween Eve), why not stay in with your sweetie tonight to create a killer pumpkin and roast some seeds? Save the debauchery for tomorrow night’s party!

Are you a virgin roaster? We’ve got you covered. Click here for a pumpkin seed recipe that includes visuals for those among us who need a little extra help.