Go down to the pumpkin patch, the grocery store or local farmers markets to shop for varieties of pumpkins. Look for ones that are firm and unblemished and have their stems still attached. Do a Charlie Brown search and find your very own Great Pumpkin.
This October, leave the carving knives in the kitchen drawer and make costumes for your pumpkins. Use them for fall decoration as the head of a scarecrow or a cat at your front door. Stencils are free and can be printed from web sites. Search your closet for an old cap; any kind of a garden or no longer used hat works. Get creative with old shoes, shirts, scarves, torn sheets, old floral arrangements and outgrown clothes. Another neat idea is to use a Halloween mask or costume on your pumpkin. Just a witch hat will create a fun display.
No time to create a display? Just mix multiple pumpkins of the same color in different sizes with colored gourds and butternut squash. To keep things simple, display them on a bail of straw. This approach will preserve your pumpkins, so they can be cooked and enjoyed at meal time. Pumpkin muffins are one of my favorites. Search your recipe books for pumpkin recipes.
Make a Great Pumpkin Diary and record a funny or scary experience. Tell from the point of view of the pumpkin. Create your own prompt of finish one from these prompt suggestions- I was just sitting on the shelf down at Bi-Lo minding my own business when … I am just a country pumpkin that was moved to town… I have a carving knife phobia…
