Jack-O-Lanterns are fun to make in October, but if you want to make something for autumn that is different and cheerful, try a pumpkin vase or a gourd vase. These make unusual decorations for Thanksgiving for your porch or for your table.
Choose a Pumpkin
Choose a pumpkin that is thin and tall for a large bouquet. Small squatty pumpkins work fine too. A pumpkin should be flat on the bottom and fairly well-balanced with a nice color
Clean the Outside and Inside
Clean the outside of the pumpkin by washing and drying it, then shining it up with a towel.
Get an adult to help you cut the top off the pumpkin just as if you were planning to carve a Jack-o-lantern. Save the “lid” to put back on the pumpkin later. For the time being, place it on a sheet of waxed paper.
Use your hand or a large metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and pulp of the pumpkin. Throw these away unless you want to roast and eat the tasty pumpkin seeds.
Arrange a Fall Bouquet
Fill a quart canning jar with water. This will have to fit down inside the pumpkin mouth. Other containers or vases will work if they will fit inside your pumpkin and hold enough water.
Now, you can take a fall stroll. From the backyard, flowerbeds and garden plots choose, the last fall flowers – zinnias, chrysanthemums, a sunflower, black-eyed Susans, or Coreopsis, plus some grass stems with seeds, seed pods and interesting looking plants or weeds. If you prefer pick some bright colored leaves on thin branches and form your bouquet of these.
Arrange the bouquet in the jar and when you have the look you like, place the jar of water into the pumpkin’s hollow inside.
To balance your pumpkin vase use a small plate with edges or a heavy terra cotta flower pot tray. A small fold of cardboard might be added to level a tipsy pumpkin better.
Extra Touches
For an extra touch, add a silk butterfly on a stick or a few ladybugs tacks pushed into the side of the pumpkin. Place some colored leaves, pinecones or straw around the base of the pumpkin. You can poke a few holes in the side of the pumpkin for extra flowers but these won’t be in the water and so they may need a water source to prevent withering.
This vase idea works with a gourd too. The gourd may be more difficult to stand up securely so choose one that will balance. Different colors of pumpkin add variety and large decorative squashes can be used as well.
Those orange-sized miniature pumpkins make adorable table decorations with little bouquets or candles fixed in them.
Choose a nice pumpkin and clean it. Then fill it with flowers or leaves for a brilliant and beautiful autumn bouquet.
Elece Hollis - Elece Hollis is a freelance writer. She has contributed to fourteen books through Snapdragon Editorial Group with several Christian ...
