Glitter pumpkins. Painted pumpkins. Glow-in-the-dark pumpkins. Been there, stenciled that. If you think you’ve seen just about every way to bring creativity to Halloween, then you are in for a surprise.
Pumpkin dioramas are the new way to take pumpkin art to the next level. Yes, art! How else could you describe something so epic?
The best part about this breath-taking trend is that it’s actually pretty simple! Forget painstakingly carving vampire teeth onto a pumpkin, or sweating up a storm as you try to lay a stencil on perfectly straight. No, with pumpkin dioramas, anything goes!
It’s safe for the little ones to be hands-on, so you don’t have to worry about them grabbing onto the sharp edges of the pumpkin cutter. Plus you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess, as these dioramas are made with plastic or foam pumpkins!
Check out this cool example from Eat, Knit and DIY:
Seriously, how amazing is this? Your kids might not even want to go trick-or-treating when they have this creation to gaze at in awe.
How about this pumpkin diorama from Lone Girl in a Crowd?
Well, who are we kidding!? Your kids are definitely not going to want to miss out on the candy. But they will also love being part of this craft.
Here is how to get started:
1. Pick out an appropriately sized artificial pumpkin. Get one that is wide—you are going to be using it as your ‘stage,’ so you don’t want to limit yourself with too narrow of a space. Art of Doing Stuff recommends you use a serrated pumpkin-carving knife to cut a large hole in one side of the pumpkin, but you may need to experiment (carefully!) with a sharper blade like an X-ACTO knife if the pumpkin carver doesn’t do the trick.
2. Do you want to paint your pumpkin? If so, now is the time to do it. Rich black and creamy whites make for a great background, but you can also do a pop of color like hot pink. Stripes are also a unique idea, like this one from Plaid!
3. Use a piece of cardboard or a flat small piece of plywood as the base of your diorama. You need something flat and level inside the pumpkin. You could even use a book or small notepad. Then cover the flat surface with fake grass, dirt, leaves, or colored sand.
4. Hot glue is your friend! If you do any sort of crafting, a hot glue gun needs to be in your toolbox of tricks. For instance, create a tiny disco ball (use sparkly nail polish and a small pebble or Styrofoam ball) and then hang it from the “ceiling” of your diorama with the help of a hot glue gun. You can also glue tiny pieces of black/white fabric around the diorama to create mini ghosts.
5. Consider the scene. Are you creating a spooky graveyard? Check out your grocery store’s baking aisle or the Halloween aisles at your local Target. You will probably find all manner of cake/cupcake toppers that will work perfectly in your diorama, from tiny skeletons to tombstones. Or, create your own with nothing other than a rock and black Sharpie! “RIP” is easy to write, and scrawled writing will just make it look more spooky, so don’t worry about making it perfect.
6. Don’t make it too complicated. Yes, you could spend hours gluing tiny bones and bats to your pumpkin, but you could also lay down some fake grass and put a Halloween cake topper inside. Or a spooky plastic haunted house would work just fine. Add sticky bats to the outside of the pumpkin. Or how about a chic woodland scene? Check out this one from Hello Lidy:
So simple and so perfect. You will definitely be in the mood for candy corn and monster movies after making one of these!
