5 Fun-But-Frightening Jack-O-Lanterns

Christmas has its trees and Easter has its eggs but Halloween, well Halloween has its pumpkins. If you think candy and costumes are the stars of Halloween night, you’re looking in the wrong place. Mainly, you’re probably not looking at the porches. On Halloween, stoops and porches become spooky pedestals for eerily illuminated faces. Save your Snickers bars and keep your KitKats, just give me the Jack o’ Lanterns.

For Military Families and Military Spouses, it’s always tough to pass up the patriotic pumpkins around October. And there’s definitely enough room out there for scary carvings and Military-themed ones, too. But there’s more to making petrifying pumpkins than a couple triangles and a half-smile. We’ve pulled together our 5 favorite pumpkin carvings that could leave your local trick or treaters smiling or shrieking.

1. Mike Wazowski Pumpkin

Mike Wazowski (of Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University) might be a fun-loving, one-eyed monster, but give him credit. He’s helped rack up hundreds of scares throughout his life. Carve him right into your Halloween pumpkin and help him get a few more right in your neighborhood.

2. Puking Pumpkin

Don’t eat all the candy in one night or you’ll end up like this puking pumpkin. Once he’s rid of all his insides, the zombie transformation will finally be complete. Those guts aren’t going to clean themselves, though.

3. Golfball Pumpkin

Golfball pumpkin or goofball pumpkin? You decide. Turn a terrifying jack-o-lantern into a goofy, bright-eyed pumpkin by placing a few golf balls in his pumpkin eye sockets. Decorate them however you’d like for a truly eye-popping effect.

4. Spider Pumpkin

Add a creepy-crawly creation to your pumpkin for a design that will cast spider-web shadows across the Halloween sky. Add a few legs to your pumpkin to make a truly cross-species critter.

5. Jack the Pumpkin King

Is it really Halloween without Jack?! The Santa Clause-equivalent of Halloween, made famous in Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack the Pumpkin King is immortalized in… well… pumpkin. Seems appropriate.

Bonus: 1% Pumpkin

In 2018, is there anything more frightening than seeing that 1% warning? A true, modern horror in every sense. What will you do when your phone is dead?

And when you’re done, don’t just chuck all those pumpkin guts and seeds out with the rest of the trash. We’ve got some ideas about how you can reuse them. Although, Linus might not appreciate such disrespect: