How to Carve a Pumpkin Safely and Easily

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on November 22, 2022
Written by Shayan Kashani
6 min read

While costumes and candy are certainly a part of the Halloween tradition, nothing quite symbolizes the celebration like a perfectly carved pumpkin or jack-o’-lantern. 

For decades, jack-o’-lanterns have adorned lawns and porches across America on October 31, and many consider them to be the centerpiece of their Halloween decorations. 

It’s not hard to see why. Besides the spooky aesthetic, pumpkin carving has become a tradition among many families where everyone participates, exercises creativity, and gets into the spirit of Halloween. 

The ever-growing complexity of Halloween jack-o’-lanterns has even inspired some university professors. Faculties teaching engineering, architecture, and product design have created interdisciplinary pumpkin carving projects to teach students about digital photography, information gathering, and using vector drawing software.

Here, we’ll take a brief look at the history of pumpkin carving and provide useful tips on how to safely and easily carve a pumpkin for the next Halloween season.

As the name suggests, a jack-o’-lantern is a lamp or light source where you place a candle inside a hollowed-out root vegetable. Pumpkins are by far the most common, but you can also carve jack-o’-lanterns out of turnips, beets, gourds, and rutabagas.

The history of Halloween goes back thousands of years, representing the end of the fall and harvest season. As early as the fifth century B.C., the Celtic Irish tradition of "Samhain" celebrated this time of year as an important transition from the fall to the winter season.

Throughout the centuries, various cultures have recognized and celebrated the end of harvest with a celebration of "All Hallows' Eve," "All Saints' Day," and "Hallowmas." "Halloween" is the modern, 20th-century version of this ancient tradition.

It’s not clear how the jack-o’-lantern first came about, and pumpkin carving history is rooted more in myth than anything else. As the legend goes, "Stingy Jack" was an old Irish trickster who liked to play pranks on everyone. He eventually struck a deal with the devil, who promised not to take Jack’s soul after he died, meaning he wouldn’t go to hell. 

But, since Jack hadn’t been nice, God refused to let him into heaven. The devil then gave Jack an ember from the fires of hell to help light his way in the darkness. Jack put the burning coal inside a turnip and has been roaming the underworld between heaven and hell ever since. 

Many believe that the carving of scary faces into vegetables started in Ireland and Scotland before spreading to the rest of Europe and North America. People would place jack-o’-lanterns in windows and near doorways to ward off Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits.

Before carving a pumpkin, it’s essential to have the right tools. 

As a rule of thumb, knives — whether sharp or dull — are dangerous for pumpkin carving, as one slip of your hand can easily lead to cuts or more serious injuries.

Instead, we recommend you use a pumpkin carving kit. These kits include a small serrated saw that can easily cut the pumpkin without getting stuck. Kits will also come with a scraper for scooping and slicing out the insides, a poker for marking where to carve, and an etching tool to create three-dimensional designs.

Every year, people report thousands of Halloween-related injuries between October and November. While many of these are due to slips and falls, close to half of all injuries are related to carving activities, making pumpkin carving safety a primary concern each Halloween season.

Here are some things to keep in mind to ensure your pumpkin carvings happen safely and without incident: 

Use the right tools. We’ve already mentioned this, but it’s worth repeating. While it’s possible to carve a pumpkin successfully using whatever tools you have in your kitchen, the likelihood of accidental injury is much higher when dealing with knives. Pumpkin carving kits are readily available in stores (especially during the season), are relatively cheap, and can be cleaned and reused for years.

Prepare a workstation. This might seem obvious, but many people choose to carve their pumpkins in their kitchens without paying attention to the space or lighting. If possible, carve your pumpkins outside during the day or in a well-lit, spacious indoor area. Remember to clean your tools and dry your hands regularly to avoid slipperiness from the seeds and slimy insides of the pumpkin.

Leave the carving to adults. Although pumpkin carving is a group or family activity, it’s not a good idea to let kids do any of the carving. While it might seem safe, children are far more likely to make a mistake that can lead to injury. To get your kids involved, you can have them come up with the designs and help with scooping out the insides, but always make sure an adult does the actual carving.

Never leave children unsupervised around sharp tools. This applies to many situations, and it’s no different when it comes to pumpkin carving. Kids might get overexcited or have an exaggerated sense of their abilities, so even leaving them alone for a few minutes in the middle of pumpkin carving can give them ideas and lead to injuries.

Have a plan in case of injury. No matter how careful you are, accidents can still happen. Before carving a pumpkin, make sure you have a first-aid kit handy to quickly deal with any minor cuts by washing them out and applying pressure with a band-aid. If the bleeding doesn’t stop after 15 minutes or it’s clear that the wound is more serious, go to the emergency room immediately.

For first-timers or those new to pumpkin carving, here are some useful tips to help you carve your pumpkins easily: 

Keep the pumpkin stable. Before you do any carving, make sure your pumpkin is sitting in a firm and stable position. You can do this by ensuring your carving station is dry (to avoid slips) and that the pumpkin doesn’t roll on the surface. You can also place the pumpkin in a bowl to prevent it from moving around. 

Cut out the bottom. Many people assume they have to remove the top of the pumpkin (with the stem), but cutting out the bottom is a safer and easier approach. There are various advantages to this technique. First, you don’t have to cut around the root of the stem, which is more challenging. Cutting out the bottom also means you can make the hole as big as you need to access and hollow out the insides. Finally, this method doesn’t require putting your hands inside the pumpkin when replacing candles since you can place your pumpkin on top of the light source.

Clean out the pumpkin. Once you’ve cut the bottom out, it’s time to hollow out and clean the pumpkin’s insides. This is the slimiest part of the process, but using a special scraping soon that comes with pumpkin carving kits makes it a lot easier.

Create a pumpkin design. Pumpkin designs can be original, hand-drawn, or stenciled. Keep the size of your pumpkin in mind as you create one since the dimensions of your design and final carving will always be the same. 

Use toothpicks. Toothpicks are a great tool for attaching your design to the face of the pumpkin without tape or adhesives. You can also use toothpicks to poke tiny holes into the pumpkin to mark the outline of where you’ll be carving. Pumpkin carving kits also come with a poker that you can use.

Start carving. Using a pumpkin saw, you can begin cutting along the outline you’ve made. The serrated blades of the saw will make carving a lot easier. The initial puncture will require a bit of force, so make sure your pumpkin is secured and will not roll.

Use LED candles. We recommend using LED candles instead of a flame. Not only will these last longer, but they also remove any possibility of a fire hazard, help preserve the pumpkin by not heating it, and come in various colors.

Preserve your pumpkin. Pumpkins usually begin to decay and lose their firmness in three to five days. To avoid this, line the inside and any of the open flesh of the pumpkin with petroleum jelly. This trick will slow the decaying process and ensure your pumpkin stays fresh through the Halloween season.

Although jack-o’-lanterns are traditionally carved into spooky faces, not everyone wants their pumpkins to be scary. 

You can carve pumpkins to look goofy, funny, or whimsical. Some people prefer simple geometric shapes, like a circle or a triangle. Logos, letters, and words are also popular ideas. 

Hundreds of different pumpkin designs are available on various arts and crafts websites. You can directly copy or use them as inspiration for your original designs.