The Great Designer Pumpkin

The Ghost Pumpkin
The White “Ghost” Pumpkin is a beautiful gourd that puts a spooky, yet elegant spin on Halloween décor. Ghost Pumpkins, also known as Luminas or Caspers have a naturally white outer skin but are a pale orange inside, allowing them to give off a lovely glow when carved. They used to be more rare but have steadily increased in popularity over the past few years. Here are a few tips on how to decorate with your ghosts:

• Painted Pumpkins: Try using stencils or graphite transfer paper to trace patterns or create distinctive designs on white pumpkins. You can also use letter stencils to spell out spooky words on several white pumpkins. Fill in your designs using a fine-tipped paintbrush and black acrylic paint.

• A Gentler Glow: Instead of a scary face, create a pretty pattern on a white pumpkin to give it a lantern look. Cut small, simple shapes such as circles, diamonds or squares in a pattern on one side of the pumpkin, spaced out or in rows. You can use small metal cookie cutters and a hammer to lightly tap out shapes in your pumpkin, if you’re not comfortable doing it freehand.

• Baby Boos: In addition to their larger cousins, there are small white pumpkins known as “Baby Boos.” These adorable little gourds can be used to make tiny lanterns or cute centerpieces for your dining room décor. They can also give a modern yet seasonal look arranged on a mantel or book shelves.

• Create a Pumpkin Family: For a fun family holiday craft, get everyone together for some white pumpkin carving. Have the parents use large white pumpkins and give the kids Baby Boos so that you can create a pumpkin version of your family for everyone to see. Check out this article for tips and tricks on carving and preserving your pumpkins.

Ghost pumpkins really add something chic and modern to Halloween décor and make the perfect canvas for painting and carving. Between the large Ghosts and the Baby Boos, white pumpkins offer a new spin on an old Halloween tradition.

A Plethora of Pumpkins
If you’re looking for more variety in the types of pumpkins you use in your Halloween décor, then you’re in luck. There are plenty of unique pumpkins of different sizes and attributes that can adorn your home this fall. Here are a few new favorites:

• The Jarrahdale: These Pumpkins are an eye-catching and unusual blueish-gray colored pumpkin that originated in New Zealand. Jarrahdales are very deeply ribbed with a long storage life and an average weight of about eight pounds. While they’re great for a variety of displays, try placing Jarrahdales in the center of an arrangement with Ghost pumpkins and Baby Boos. The dramatic slate gray color of the Jarrahdale will really stand out next to white pumpkins and will give off a spooky vibe.

• The Long Island “Cheese” Pumpkin: This pumpkin is named because it is shaped like a pale orange wheel of cheese. It is great for display purposes, but is also prized for its’ sweet flesh that is great for baking pumpkin pies that have a smooth, creamy texture similar to New York style cheesecake. The Long Island Cheese is a medium-sized pumpkin that can weigh in at anywhere from six to eleven pounds and has exceptional longevity.

• The Cinderella: This pumpkin’s reddish, deep orange color, large size, and large ridges make it ideal for Halloween décor and stacking purposes. The pumpkin got its name because it is shaped like the carriage in the Cinderella folktale and, weighing as much as 35 pounds, is big enough to live up to the reputation of its larger-than life namesake. However, the Cinderella pumpkin is not the best choice for carving and jack-o-lanterns because it’s flattened shape doesn’t leave much room for making faces or carving other shapes.

• Where to find them: Look for these special pumpkins at farmers’ markets and pumpkin farms in your area. If you can’t find heirloom pumpkin varieties nearby, consider purchasing seeds and growing them in your backyard. Pumpkins should be planted in late spring or early summer for a September or October harvest. Just search the keyword “heirloom pumpkin seeds” to find qualified seed sellers.

As you can see, there is plenty more to Halloween decoration than traditional orange pumpkins. While still a staple of the season, it’s great to supplement them with any of the pumpkins mentioned above to give your home décor a fresh new look. Hopefully these tips will breathe some new life into your Halloween festivities and give your home a distinctive character all its own.