Pumpkin Carving Parties are THE BEST because they’re fun for all ages and you get to be as elaborate or as simple as you want when it comes to the actual party planning. Here’s how to plan a pumpkin carving party with ideas that are both simple and elaborate, depending on how adventurous you are as a party planner!

HALLOWEEN PARTY INVITATIONS
Keep it simple – You have all kinds of options for creating simple invitations whether on Facebook, an e-vite website or maybe fill-in-the-blank Halloween party invitations from your local department store. An official invitation is always a good idea though. It gets guests excited and it gives them a point of reference for all the gooey details.

Jazz it up – As you can imagine, we’re all about jazzing up the invitation! Check out Pear Tree’s collection of Halloween Party Invitations and you’ll find a few options for pumpkin carving parties specifically. You might think that custom party invitations are too expensive or too fancy but you’ll be surprised at how affordable these are and your guests will absolutely love them!

THE PUMPKINS
Keep it simple – Ask guests to bring their own pumpkins to keep planning easier for you. Most people like picking out their pumpkins anyways, and having pumpkins rolling around in the back of your CRV isn’t the most pleasant experience.

Jazz it up – Provide pumpkins for your guests, and be sure to provide a variety of sizes, shapes and even colors. The nice thing about providing the pumpkins is that you get to choose pumpkins that will suite whatever style of decorating you will be doing at this party, which brings us to…

PUMPKIN CARVING
Keep it simple – There is something wonderful about the simplicity of a pumpkin and a knife. We do encourage pumpkin carving tools as a safer (perhaps less exciting than the old butcher knife) approach. Be sure to provide  a variety of carving tools including a few different sizes of carving knives, scooping spoons, bowls or pails for the guts and paper towels for slimy hands.

Jazz it up – You can really go CRAZY with pumpkin decorating! Definitely set out the classic carving sets but you can also let guests paint their pumpkins. Acrylic paints work great. Or you can break out the power tools like drills, hammers and nails. Sound scary? Good! It is Halloween after all.

DECORATING STATIONS
Keep it simple – Picnic tables outside are a great for easy clean up. Just hose them off and you’re done. Bring tables into the garage and cover them with painters plastic or tarps for easy clean up. They can be hosed off as well. Break out some newspaper or paper bags if you need something easily accessible around the house.

Jazz it up – After you’ve chosen how to set up the decorating stations, you can provide two bowls per table and ask guests to fill one bowl with guts and one bowl with the pumpkin seeds. If you ask nicely, guests might be willing to separate the pumpkins seeds as they’re gutting the pumpkins. You can then roast those seeds for a delicious fall snack.

FOOD AND BEVERAGES
Keep it simple – Fill a cooler with some ice and beverages that suit your guests, then ask everybody to bring a Halloween treat they’d like to share. Designate a table for all the goodies and maybe even dress it up with a fun Halloween tablecloth and themed plates and cups.

Jazz it up – Provide a table of Halloween themed food that you create yourself. The fun part about this is you get to create a thrilling spread of food with all those unique Halloween party ideas you found on Pinterest. You could still ask a few guests to help you with this. Definitely have some thermoses of hot drinks like hot chocolate and apple cider. You could provide a little something extra for adults to heat up their drinks like some Rum Chata for the hot chocolate or a little Honey Brandy for the cider.

Be sure to check out our recent blog post about Wonderfully Whimsical Halloween Party Invitations to find just the right invite for your Halloween shindig.

Photo Credits: Pumpkin Carving Party Invitation: Grinning Pumpkins, Table Setup: Tremaine Ranch, Apple Cider: Jenny Steffens Blog Spot, Pumpkin Pudding: Catch My Party, Kids’ Table: Ritzy Parties