Pumpkin Carving Stencils Are Fun For The Family!

Pumpkin carving stencils are a staple for the Halloween holiday. Whether or not you purchase your pumpkin carving stencils on line or at a nearby Halloween supply store is a matter of personal preference. Individuals who own their own pumpkin carving tools may prefer to find their pumpkin carving stencils on line.

The Internet has a wide variety of free pumpkin carving stencils and pumpkin carving stencils for sale. Many of the pumpkin carving stencils that are for sale are relatively inexpensive at $1 to $5 each.

In addition to having a variety of prices, pumpkin carving stencils also have a wide variety of styles. From simple jack-o-lantern style faces to intricate replications of photographs, there's a pumpkin carving stencil for every skill level and style desired.

Need to know where to find pumpkin carving stencils? Here are 3 great sites to choose from.

The Pumpkin Lady

PumpkinLady.com has a wide variety of pumpkin carving stencils to choose from on a very professional looking Web site. Many of the stencils on this site are free, although they are $1.49 to $2.99.

The Pumpkin Lady has insects, skulls, faces, Americana, and Motley Crew themes. No matter what your skill level, you will find something on this Web site. Every once and a while you will happen on an occasional free pumpkin carving stencil as well.

Zombie Pumpkins

If you are looking for something a little more unusual, Zombie Pumpkins is the place to visit. Zombie Pumpkins pumpkin carving stencils boast faces of villains. There are no cute animal prints, bugs, or cartoon cutouts here.

Zombie Pumpkins pumpkin carving stencils are not free. You can pay $2 for 2 patterns, $5 for 25 patterns, $10 for all the patterns on the site or $20 for all the patterns on the site plus 10 bonus patterns.

Spook Master

Spookmaster.com has a variety of pumpkin carving stencils to choose from on their site. There are some free pumpkin carving stencils and then some other pumpkin carving stencils that can be accessed for joining the site.
Joining SpookMaster.com is affordable at $5.95, so even if you don't find a free stencil you like, you can still find a wonderful paid pattern.

Other Useful Information For A Naturally Good Halloween

MICHELE BESCHEN / Scripps Howard News Service

Halloween celebrates all things spooky, but it doesn't have to frighten our health, our pocketbooks or the environment. Here are some ways to mark the occasion that play up the earthy, imaginative, resourceful side in all of us. The idea being, we make Halloween less of a commercial affair and more of an environmentally friendly family affair.
Costumes

For eco-friendly, yet still playful, costume options, think secondhand. Or make one yourself using items from around the house. It makes great sense to organize costume swaps with friends and neighbors and to shop secondhand stores. Creating costumes is about one of the easiest do-it-yourself projects you can take on because it's all about being creative. It has to last for only one wearing, and it doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be fun! Search your closets, the kitchen and the garage. All the supplies you need are right there in front of you. Pull things together, then let your children's imagination go to work. They'll have their own ideas on how to configure things and what kind of innovative characters they want to create.
Homemade brews

If you need "blood," face paint or other ooey, gooey concoctions, make them yourself. They're inexpensive, and you know exactly what you're putting on your or your child's skin. There are endless recipes that include simple, everyday ingredients from the kitchen. The online community is an excellent resource for recipes, and it's good to try out a few to see what works best with the ingredients you have. For recipes that call for food coloring, explore using natural colorants.

Reusable treat bags

Create a treat bag from scratch out of materials from around the house, or use one that can double as a shopping tote for the rest of the year. Making a bag is a quick and easy do-it-yourself project that anyone can handle. Good household materials to use include pillowcases and cloth napkins. The kids can have fun decorating them with paints and stencils for that special Halloween touch.
Healthy treats

Fun candy doesn't have to mean unhealthy candy. Explore the organic, natural candies that are becoming more and more plentiful, affordable and delicious. Offer trick-or-treaters sweet treats that aren't filled with artificial colorings, flavorings and other undesirables. This is a good choice for kids and the environment.
Natural decor

Be resourceful when it comes to decorating, and play up the simple use of natural elements rather than relying on synthetic paraphernalia from party stores. Decorate with things like driftwood, cornstalks, leaves, branches and, of course, pumpkins. These can then get tossed to the compost bin when the big day has passed, so you have nothing to store and nothing goes to waste. When carving pumpkins, save the seeds to toast and eat or to plant for next year. You can also put some of your recyclables or leftovers into play to create reusable Halloween decor. Make use of energy-efficient lights and use soy-based candles in jack-o'-lanterns.

An eco-friendly --eco-logical and eco-nomical -- approach to Halloween is a naturally good idea year after year.

Visit www.borganic.net or contact Michele Beschen at Michele@couragetocreate.com.