Pumpkin Craft for Party?

[Earth Angel]

We are having a birthday party for Ds, who will turn 7 on 11/5. He wanted to do a Halloween party though so it is this weekend. We were thinking it would be fun to do somethinge with pumpkins, but not sure what. We could do carving, and Dh and I were thinking we could gut the pumpkins the day before, and the kids could just carve. I know we could draw on them, but that would require permanent markers right? Any other ideas? Most of the kids will be 7 + aside from my 3 yr old and another 4 yr old. I'm looking for a safe, low mess project.....but still fun!

TIA

[rachdoll]

You could have the kids paint faces on the pumpkins (instead of carving), get some googly eyes, fuzzballs, random little pieces that they could decorate with, etc.

You could also bob for apples. I love bobbing for apples.

We just went to a Halloween themed birthday party for a 6 year old, and the mom had a long table of crafts set up - paper bags to decorate with Halloween foamies, a Halloween scene on paper with Halloween stickers to place where you want, Halloween shaped foamies (candy-corn, cat, pumpkin) with smaller foamies and jewels to decorate, some black cut-outs that you scratch with a stick - the black scratches off as you give the cat a face, whatnot...

Also, the 'cake' was cupcakes, laying on their side (cut just a bit to sit flat), decorated to look like green witch faces, with a cholocate ice cream cone upside down on top as the hat - very cute.

Okay, I realize you only had a question about pumpkins, but having just been to the party, I thought I'd share what they had done. :

[Earth Angel]

No, thank you!! I totally love all of those ideas!! I'm working on limited time here though since I'm so unprepared. We were going to have his party a bit closer to his birthday (11/5) but, he really wanted to have everyone dress up, so, here we are

Do you know where your friend got those cut outs? they sound really fun. I was thinking of bobbing for apples too, it is so fun!, but am going to decide that as the date gets closer and I know for sure what the weather may bring. I don't want to have everyone inside and doing a game like that

Do you think having the carving would be inappropriate? I'm really on the fence about it. It is all boys, and I"m not sure how into decorating with googly eyes etc (it was my original idea) they would be. But I'm not sure about the knives. Thoughts???

[rachdoll]

I really don't know if carving would be appropriate or not - 7 years old is kinda on the cusp, I think. My oldest is only 5, and I can't picture her being able to handle a knife that well in only two years, but they have the pumpkin carving kits with the smaller knives and cutting tools, so that might work well, so long as there is plenty of supervision!

I'm not sure where my friend got the foamies (and I can't call her at the moment), probably Wal-Mart or Michael's. (Small town living - you get what you can get!) I also saw this online. I know you are down to the wire, but there would still be time to have stuff delivered, for the right price.

[eepster]

Instead of giving them knives you can give them cutting tool specifically designed for pumpkins like these or this they are much safer and easier to use.

Instead of bobbing for apples in a tub of water which is messy, cold, and ruins costum make up, tie the apples from strings and hang them from the ceiling.

[Earth Angel]

Thanks you guys I really appreciate your ideas and suggestions!

I am also on a tight budget, hence the pumpkin ideas. I figure I can get a pumpkin for each child for $1 at our little farm down the rd. And then carving is free. The ages are 7 and up to 13, plus the parents are staying. So, I'm thinking of checking out the tools that eepster linked, are they really safer than a knife though??

And eepster, the apples on strings, the idea then would be to get them down using only your mouth???

[eepster]

Originally Posted by Earth Angel

And eepster, the apples on strings, the idea then would be to get them down using only your mouth???

They can eiter just try to get the apple by biting it no hands, or try to eat the whole apple again no hands and leave the core hanging from the string. It deppends how long you want the activity to last.

[brigmaman]

How do the decorations stick on the pumpkins? I guess I mean what kind of adhesive would work? We are going to have a Halloween party this Saturday, and my ds (5) wants to have pumpkin decorating. Is the stickyness on the foam pieces enough, do you think? :