My daughter can be a sensitive little one, which isn’t too surprising as I was too as a toddler/preschooler. That being said, Halloween has always been a little rough on her. Not because of the costumes, or creepy monsters, or scary decorations. Because of the pumpkin carving. The first time she ever saw a pumpkin being carved (last Halloween) she really freaked out. She started crying and got very shaky. Naturally I asked what was wrong and she said to me in the most crushed, teary voice, “Mummy, hurting pumpkin!!!”. She was convinced they were causing severe harm to the poor innocent pumpkin. This year is no different – seeing pictures of Jack-O-Lanterns always causes a reaction, though it’s less extreme than last year. Now she usually says, “I just don’t like that pumpkin thing, Mommy.”
Needless to say, we are not a pumpkin carving household. But, I do like having them outside on the stoop, so I decided to have her do pumpkin painting! She loved the idea. Nothing ‘violent’, just good crafty fun. At least, I’m assuming that’s how she sees it.
So I picked up a variety of little pumpkins for her at the grocery store and she got to work. We had white, a nice Halloween-y blood red, and then some Glow-In-The-Dark pink since pink is her current favorite color.
She had a ball. But of course, I had to get in on the fun too! I picked out two big pumpkins for myself to paint, and got to work. I wanted a tree design, so after browsing some refs, I ended up with this pumpkin.
I just LOVE it! It came out much better than I expected! I debated adding in some little white owls or some bats, but in the end I really just like the gnarly old tree.
And here’s the second one, out on display on our stoop with the tree pumpkin.
My little ones are piled up on the bottom step – my daughter loves to see them when we go in and out!
It turns out, I liked the pumpkin painting BETTER than carving. It opens up a lot more design ideas for me, is FAR less messy, and the best part of course, it doesn’t terrify my child!! Maybe one day she’ll be ready for carving, but for now we are both happy with painting.
Until next time,
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