Halloween: Seasonal Deck Decorations

Are you tired of the messy and exacting process of carving out Jack O’ Lanterns? While it’s easier to place several un-carved pumpkins around your deck, you know this short-cut will disappoint your kids. Halloween is a special time for them and although the candy is an important part of it, Jack O’ Lanterns glowing in the dark are also important. Rather than disappoint them this year, there is another way to create this most classic of seasonal deck decorations that will glow in the dark without any carving.

How to Make Jack O’ Lanterns with No Carving Required

With this technique, the pumpkins are painted with either a luminescent paint that glows in the dark after exposure to light, or with a paint that glows when exposed to a black light lamp. Paints that glow under black light have the advantage of not requiring a “recharge” of light to keep them lit. You simply leave your black light lamp switched on when you want the pumpkins to glow.

Step 1 – On a sheet of contact paper, draw the pumpkin’s face. The face should consist of cut-out sections. These can be sections for the eyes, nose, and mouth for example.

Step 2 – With a pair of scissors, cut out the sections. This will leave you with the cut-out sections themselves and the contact paper that’s left behind.

Step 3 – Now you will pull the backs off the contact paper and place the paper on the pumpkin. Make sure the pumpkin’s surface is clean so that the paper will stick. At this point, you have a choice. You can either cover the pumpkin with the contact paper left behind that has holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth, or you can stick the cut-out sections themselves on the pumpkin. The first choice will give you a pumpkin that has glowing eyes, nose, and mouth. The second option will give you the negative of the first. That is, the eyes, nose, and mouth will be dark while the rest of the pumpkin will glow.

Step 4 – Apply the luminescent or black light paint to the pumpkin (on the sections not covered by the paper). The paints can be purchased at a store or online. Avoid using spray paint because this requires an area with lots of ventilation and a paint mask. Paints that brush on are much simpler to apply.

Step 5 – After the paint has dried, pull the contact paper off and your glow-in-the-dark pumpkin is complete. Place the pumpkins on your deck with a black light lamp set up so that the pumpkins are well lit without exposing your eyes to the lamp bulb itself. The lamp should be weather proof. Alternatively, pumpkins with luminescent paint will require occasional flood light exposure. After turning off the lights, the pumpkins will glow for a limited time.

For more seasonal deck decoration ideas and information, please contact us.