I can remember carving exactly one pumpkin in my life — that was two years ago. If I carved them as a child (which I’m sure my parents didn’t deprive me of the experience), I just can’t remember doing it.

I’m sure they looked a lot like Ol’ Pukey up there, minus the pumpkin vomit and the Colt 45. I’ve never been too terribly artistic, so three circles for a face seems reasonable.

But now that it’s October, we here on the features staff are getting excited. So excited, in fact, that we came up with a list of pumpkins to try to carve up.

Over three days I carved these six Jack ‘O’ Lanterns — some more successfully than others. Over the course of the carvings, I broke two knives, dulled three others and got covered in pumpkin guts.

Here are several options of designs you can try, but these are just ideas. Are you a Ron Paul fan? Substitute him for Obama. Do you think Tupac was the best rapper to ever live? Slap a stencil of him on a pumpkin and give it a try.

You can get stencils for almost anything on the Internet, so pick your favorite and get carving.

Halloween is about being creative and having a good time; just don’t have too good of a time that you end up like Pukey McPumpkin.

Contact

Nicole Aikens at [email protected].