55 Halloween Pumpkin-Carving Ideas Worth Recreating This October

Polka dots never go out of style, and will look so cute with a candle inside.

Use the carved-out mouth piece as an extra prop to create a perfect tongue.

With this look, you can keep your pumpkins out until Thanksgiving with no shame.

Take some inspo from celeb kid True Thompson and go for a more abstract vibe.

Whether referring to a specific movie's haunted house, or an original building dreamt on your own, a haunted house pumpkin will look great on your doorstep.

You can make a simple face carving look complex by nesting a smaller pumpkin inside to look like an exposed brain. Cool and gross!

Frick anyone who doesn't love Halloween like you!

Googly eyes take two seconds to apply, require no messy construction, and look so cute.

Put a green gourd to use resembling everyone's favorite Pixar monster.

A pumpkin that's home alone is scary alright! And totally adorable.

Carve your pumpkin upside down and paint it white for a new take on the ghost design.

Nothing scary here! Make a gorge decoration by carving fall leaves.

Remind passersby to exercise their civic duty!

This life-sized pumpkin scarecrow puts your old clothes to good use. Tip: Fill it with fallen leaves for yard clean-up with a purpose.

With pumpkin seeds as eye decorations, there's no need to ask who has the cutest pumpkin of them all.

Trick or treating is the second best part of Halloween...carving pumpkins is number one, duh.

Nothing creepy in sight—just an adorable little pumpkin house that can be used as home decor.

Listen, you've got to nod to it.

Have one of those bulletin boards lying around your house? Use the extra letters in your pumpkin for easy decorating like Reese.

Save the sticky hands and work with props like pipe cleaners instead.

Honor the late, notorious R.B.G. if you've got the right knife skills.

Does it get more magical than this?? This design was one of the most beautiful at the Dutch Pumpkin Growing Championship 2020.

You can get *really* into it and go for a full-on recreation of a star like Marilyn Monroe.

Or perhaps another icon like Frida Kahlo is more your speed.

By using toothpicks, any face can become a scary, sharp-toothed pumpkin creature. This one adds a pumpkin seed to one of the toothpicks with red paint to resemble blood.

When you carve a sad face in your pumpkin, the design still makes sense even when the pumpkin starts decaying.

Put your paint skills to the test.

A mini carved pumpkin can make a great candy bowl...just make sure you clean out the inside really well.

It doesn't even need to be dark for this pumpkin to be scary.

It's a pumpkin-eat-pumpkin world out here.

Recycle the cut-outs from the eyes and attach them with a toothpick to make ears.

A ghost design is pretty basic, but it takes on more character when done on a white pumpkin.

Why should Harry get all the glory?!

Look at those pearly whites! Creator Andrew Acomb wanted to use the stem as a focal point, so it became the jack-o'-lantern's nose.

Bring a bit of pixie dust to Halloween this year.

For minimal effort with satisfying results, try a single shocked face.

You don't even have to fully carve if you hate hollowing out pumpkins—this shark design is done by etching out the pumpkin's skin.