20 easy pumpkin decorating ideas

Get inspired with our top pumpkin recipes, top pumpkin soup recipes, pumpkin recipes to make with kids and roast pumpkin recipes. For more low-waste ideas, discover our pumpkin seed recipes and ways to use up leftover pumpkin.

If you've had enough of pumpkins this spooky season, try our things you can carve for Halloween that aren't pumpkins – but make sure that those veggies don't go to waste either.

You will need:

• A selection of paintbrushes and paints
• Thin and thick pens and markers in various colours
• Newspaper

Optional extras

Depending on how you're decorating your pumpkin, the following may also be helpful:

• Bandages (or toilet roll)
• Black card
• Colourful stickers
• Glue
• Googly eyes
• Pipe cleaners

How to paint a pumpkin

1. Start by washing your pumpkin. Use a vegetable brush if it's particularly dirty or wipe it down with a damp cloth

2. Dry your pumpkin – make sure it's completely dry before decorating otherwise the pen, paint or glue won't stick

3. Lay it on newspaper to stop paint or glue contaminating surfaces

4. Follow our designs below or simply use them as inspiration, then allow to dry fully before moving your pumpkin to its new home

5. Remember not to leave your pumpkin outside in the rain otherwise you might lose your beautiful design

Pumpkin decorating ideas

1. Paint a cat's face

Paint about two-thirds of the pumpkin black, with two half-moon shapes on one side to create the shape of a cat’s mouth. Use a white or silver marker pen to draw the eyes, nose and whiskers. Cut out ears from black card or felt, and attach with pins (or use a cat's-ear headband).

2. Wrap up like a mummy

Wrap bandages (or even toilet roll) tightly around the pumpkin, leaving a thin slit exposed for the eyes. Cut out eye shapes using black card, then paint or draw on the pupils. Pin the eyes to the pumpkin.

3. Make a face out of stickers

Be inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, which falls on 1 November, and paint a black skull face onto a white pumpkin. Decorate with round neon stickers or blobs of paint to outline the eyes, then add little daisies all the way round.

4. Give it stripes

Earn your eco Halloween stripes with this alternating-colour design. Paint alternating gold and black sections using the natural curves of the pumpkin as a guide for a classy Halloween party decoration.

5. Add googly eyes

Even something as simple as stick-on googly eyes can transform your pumpkin from an inanimate vegetable into a convincingly spooky addition to your Halloween decorations. Using a variety of shapes, sizes and varieties of pumpkin will add interest, and you can always draw on ghoulish expressions for extra Halloween fun.

6. Make it monochrome with black

You don't need expensive paints or materials to make a spooktacular pumpkin. Simply use a thick black marker or paint to outline and fill in your design. Use our Halloween templates for more inspiration.

7. Paint a floral design

Who said pumpkins have to be scary? If you're feeling artistic, you can paint a beautiful floral design with a variety of colours or use felt tip pens for a pretty alternative to the typical Halloween designs.

8. Give your pumpkin a hat

Fashion your pumpkin a fetching paper witch's hat out of black and orange card, or even knit one if you're feeling crafty.

9. Write a Halloween message

Think of your pumpkin as a blank canvas and the options are endless! Draw on all of the classic Halloween images of spider's webs and bats and decorate with Halloween messages ready for 31 October.

10. Use pipe cleaners

Use pipe cleaners to fashion eyes, ears and more onto your pumpkins.

11. Make them extra-colourful

Get creative and paint your pumpkins like your favourite cartoon characters and TV show villains - the more colourful the better.

12. Paint it white

Painting your pumpkin white transforms it into a blank canvas for your own designs – think spooky Halloween lettering, multicoloured bats or (even more) pumpkins.

13. Get glittery

Transform your pumpkin into a shiny disco ball with non-plastic biodegradable glitter.

14. Draw cartoon faces

Simple cartoon designs with animated expressions like these will make your pumpkin stand out from the crowd.

15. Make it into a unicorn

Turn your pumpkin into a unicorn with fluttery eyelashes, flowers, greenery and a golden horn.

16. Give it legs

Terrify your neighbours with a pumpkin-sized spider in your front garden. Poke sticks into your pumpkin and then twist pipe cleaners round them for fluffy spider legs.

17. Draw a spiderweb

Kids of all ages can have a go at painting or drawing a simple spider's web onto their pumpkin, while older ones can include a convincingly spooky spider in the middle.

18. Use crackly paint

Using special paint that turns into a crackled texture when it dries will give an extra Halloween effect to your pumpkin with minimal effort.

19. Make it luminous

Using bright or even glow-in-the-dark paint will mean that trick-or-treaters won't forget to pay your house a visit come 31 October.

20. Keep it simple

The great thing about Halloween pumpkin painting is that kids of all ages and abilities can get involved. Younger kids can keep it simple with their designs while the more ambitious can let their imaginations run wild.

Discover more spooktacular Halloween content:

Top Halloween mocktails
Adult's Halloween party ideas
Most popular Halloween recipes
Halloween dinner ideas
Last-minute Halloween party ideas
Halloween cake recipes

What's your best tip for reducing waste at Halloween? Let us know in the comments...