Halloween | Pumpkins & Other Fun

"Only the knife knows what goes on in the heart of a pumpkin."

Simone Schwarz-Bart

After my last post I was really looking forward to finally getting to do some of the Halloween themed activities I had planned. I didn't expect to actually have the chance to do any of it until later in the week but Eva ended up taking a day off work as she wasn't well. She'd also heard a friend had been taken into hospital so in the afternoon when she was in a little less pain, and to take her mind off things, we decided to carve our pumpkins! The last time I carved a pumpkin was around four or five years ago when I was still with my ex. I swore back then I would never do it again because it totally wrecked me, but I figured I'd try and be less of a lil bitch about it this time and attempt it again.

Effy wanted in on the pumpkin carving action but I had to break it to her that we didn't get her a pumpkin. Not to mention the fact she doesn't have opposable thumbs to hold the carving utensils. She was disappointed but I think she understood.

Side note: Tortoise shell cats are perfect for Halloween. 
Like a witch's black cat and a pumpkin rolled into one!

But I digress, I did a little better this time as I didn't totally rage quit but I did need Eva to help me fully clean out the insides. Pumpkin guts are pretty stubborn when it comes to removal. We also opted to use steak knives and dessert spoons rather than buying the actual carving kits because we're old school like that. And by old school, I mean cheap.

Because of the fact I didn't buy a carving kit I quickly realised I was a little limited as to what I could do. I had hoped to do Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas but his mouth was out of the question, as was his nose. Eva said the eyes I did looked cute so I went with it and made a baby. 

I mean what's scarier than babies and the responsibility that comes along with them, right? I have to say though, Eva's was way better and I was totally jealous. 

In Tesco we got these LED balloons to put inside them instead of candles to see what they were like. I think it was £3 for five. The packet says they last around fifteen hours. 

I really like them. I also imagine the pumpkin will keep longer as it won't have the heat of the candle. Though I will probably miss the burning smell. I also think they work a bit better in bigger pumpkins. We had to tape the lid down on mine as the balloon was coming out the top. Doesn't look so good in daylight but you can't notice it in the dark. All in all I feel like the pumpkins were a success! 

After we did that we decided to make the chocolate apples we had planned too. We only got four apples so we did one milk chocolate and one white chocolate each. To be honest, I don't like apples but I still wanted to have fun making these. We got some green sugar sand and we had chocolate chips too but Eva ate them. These weren't the most thought out chocolate apples ever and I'm not completely sure they even remotely seem Halloween themed but still, what fun! We also forgot to get sticks but luckily we had two sets of chopsticks that worked just fine.

And my finished apples turned out like this.

I'm not going to lie, I think the milk chocolate one looks pretty good. Am I right? As we only had four apples we were left with a bowl of melted chocolate. And what does one do when they have a bowl of melted chocolate just like this?

Make Cornflake buns, duh! Not exactly something synonymous with Halloween but we gave them a Halloween twist. I had picked up this cute Halloween themed bun case set from Poundland for starters.

And then we topped them off with some witch's stocking jellies we bought from Marks & Spencer. Sounds Halloweeny enough, right?

All in all it was a fun Halloween activity day and nothing went too wrong. We also didn't have to waste the insides of the pumpkin as both snails and hamsters can have it. I haven't tried giving any to Rue yet but it went down a storm with the snails. 

Have you been up to any Halloween fun this week?