I love pumpkin carving. It is one of my favorite Halloween traditions. In part because I am obsessed with roasted pumpkin seeds, but also because it is a fun thing to do with the kids. Picking a design, pulling out the guts, carving and admiring — it’s all part of the fun. In recent years, I have also come to appreciate no-carve pumpkin decorating. This year my family created a NASCAR pumpkin, complete with lights. It was fun planning and painting, and because it isn’t carved it should last a while too.
NASCAR fans, we hope you appreciate our vision of a NASCAR pumpkin.
My husband always teases me about my every-growing supply of craft items. But, he wasn’t laughing when everyone started throwing ideas at me for the pumpkin and I was able to scrounge up everything we needed from my stash! (Ok yes, actually they were laughing. But it was a pleased laugh!)
No Carve NASCAR Pumpkin
Materials
- Green acrylic paint
- Grey acrylic paint
- Paint brushes
- Painters tape (optional)
- Black and white vinyl
- LED lights
- Race cars
- Paper clips
- Wire cutters
Directions
Everyone had a hand in creating our pumpkin. First the girls painted the whole pumpkin green. Then I painted the race track.
I used painters tape to paint straight lines for the race track. But I will warn you, the tape will pull acrylic paint right off the pumpkin. It still made it easier to get smooth lines and then I easily touched up all of the spots where the paint pulled up, but you have been warned.
Because the tape peeled the paint, I knew there was no way I could paint a checkered flag on the track. So I used adhesive vinyl scraps to create the start-finish line. I cut a piece of white vinyl into squares and applied it to the black vinyl to create the checkered look. Then I stuck the whole thing on the race track.
Then my husband took over. Using wire cutters, he clipped the “U” shapes off of paper clips and pushed those into the pumpkin around the string of LED lights to adhere the lights to the board of the track.
He also used paperclips through the undercarriage of the race cars to stick them to the pumpkin so the girls can have their cars back when we are done.
It’s a race to the finish, but we think our NASCAR pumpkin has already won the trophy.
For a no-mess pumpkin, try this Duck Tape Mustache Pumpkin.