Happy Halloween...Pumpkin Tower Tutorial

Happy Halloween everyone!! I made a pumpkin tower yesterday for Halloween, but I'm hoping it will last until Thanksgiving when we have everyone here for dinner. Thought I would share the tutorial with you!!

This year must have been a bumper crop for pumpkins, because they were fairly inexpensive. $2 - $6 each, even for the big ones. We buy them at Walmart for the best price.

Here's the creation I came up with...

This only took about 30 minutes to put together...

Here are the things I used.

• 3 pumpkins in graduated sizes. You can stack more, but you will need a stronger stick
• plant pot, wooden crate or some sort of base/holder
• dowel, pvc pipe, old curtain rod or anything to poke inside the pumpkins for support
• screwdriver, ice pick or drill to make the holes in the pumpkins
• fall decorations as filler. I bought the artificial fall garland at Joann Fabric 50% off. I also used raffia that I already had. You can just use things from your yard too.

I placed something inside the plant pot to support the largest pumpkin. I also learned later that you may need to add some rocks in there to weigh down the pot!

Take the largest pumpkin and break off the stem.

I've come to the conclusion that when you don't want the stem to break off, it snaps in a second. If you want it off, you need to take a hammer to it.

Take drill or ice pick and poke a hole in or near the center. If I used my drill I could have drilled directly in the center, but I was too lazy to go in and get it!

Insert the dowel or pvc pipe.

If you need more support for your tower, you could poke a hole on the bottom of the large pumpkin and let the stick go into the rocks in the pot.

Next, take the medium pumpkin...

and poke a hole in the bottom.

Insert it onto the dowel and look at how it will land on the large pumpkin and "eye" where the top hole will be.

It will be close to the center, but all pumpkins aren't perfectly round. Mine had a flat back, so I had to adjust.

Two stacked.

Now take your smallest pumpkin and measure where the stick will end inside and cut off the extra stick.

(note to self...no more pictures including my "man hands". What the heck. They don't look like that in person. The camera must add 10 pounds to my hands! Lol)

Poke a hole in the bottom of the little one and slide it on to the dowel. Looks cute all wonky, but needs some filler!

I added some raffia to each intersection.

I also cut the fall garland into 3 pieces...small, medium and large lengths

I used floral "U" shaped picks to secure them. You could also use tacks or just nail them in.

Tap them in to hold all the parts and stems of the garland.

All finished and just in time before the sun was setting.

Total cost was $15.00...$11.00 for the pumpkins and $4.00 for the discounted garland. The rest I already had. It would be cheaper if I used natural foliage from the yard.

This tutorial was just the process of the "how to". You can change it up with things you have around your house or in your yard.

If I had bitter sweet growing in my yard, I would have used that. I love the look of bitter sweet. You can even use leaves that have fallen to tuck in between the layers.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!!

~Karen~