Pumpkins, pumpkins: tis the season for these orange-colored balls of seasonal goopiness. It’s time to carve them and eat them and turn them into everything imaginable. If you like pumpkins, here are some ideas that go a little bit beyond the ordinary.
5 Unusual Uses for Pumpkins
Flower Pot
There’s something better than flowers: it’s autumn flowers in a pumpkin! Use your carved pumpkin to house a fall arrangement, and it will make your front porch look delightfully festive.
Candle holder
I’m loving those little gourds-turned-candleholders. Get a wee pumpkin, carve it out, and place a candle in the middle. Fill the rest of the pumpkin with candle wax, and burn the pumpkin candle at the table on Halloween, Thanksgiving, or for a fancy seasonal dinner. After you’ve used the pumpkin as a candle holder, remove the wax and compost the pumpkin.
A Garden Planter
What can you do with those Halloween pumpkins after Halloween is through? It seems a shame to send them to the garbage or even to the compost. After all, they’ve had only a brief time to shine. I know that my garden is full of oddball squashes that have spontaneously emerged from the compost. Keep some of your pumpkin’s seeds and plant your pumpkin in the garden after Halloween is done. Fill it up with soil, and let it turn into next year’s Halloween pumpkins.
Pumpkin Toys
Pumpkins are great fodder for kids’ toys. Playing Cinderella? Keep a mini pumpkin around to play with. Love fairies? Turn your pumpkin into a fairy house in the garden. No, the pumpkin will not last forever, but it’s quite easy to recycle it into soil when you’re done.
Eat It!
Get sneaky with your Halloween pumpkin decorating, and you could save those orange gems for the kitchen later on. If you decorate your pumpkins without carving them, you can recycle them into pumpkin puree. If you’re more of a carver, you can still recycle the bits and pieces of pumpkin that would otherwise be wasted as you remove that toothy grin. Bake your pumpkin at 350 degrees for an hour, then scoop it out and puree it. Freeze it, and you’ll have a lovely base for pumpkin soups and pies this fall. Remember to bake the seeds too!
Image Credit: Naneki