Painting Pumpkins, Making Memories

Thank you Juicy Juice for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own. 

Last week I cut and cleaned out a pumpkin so Zoe and her dad could take it to school for the annual Papa & Pumpkins breakfast. This was just the second pumpkin ever I cleaned out for a purpose other than cooking. It made me laugh and when I shared the process on Instagram Stories, a lot of people asked me why I never carved pumpkins as a child. 

Funny enough, I never knew I was missing something with this whole pumpkin thing. I grew up in Flatbush, BK before it became one of the hot spots to live in Brooklyn. It was and still is heavily populated by Caribbean families including my own. Halloween is not something we celebrate in the Caribbean so nope we didn’t carve pumpkins. Also, Caribbean people are very serious about not wasting food. Carved pumpkins are basically a waste of food in a Caribbean person’s eyes. But here I am with my own family and creating memories with them matter to me.

So I cleaned out the pumpkin, drew a design, purchased a pumpkin carving kit and sent the Hubs and Zoe on their way to Papa & Pumpkins prepared. Last year I sent my kitchen knives to the event. Obviously I was clueless about pumpkin carving and I still chuckle at The Hubs expression about the knives and about the very detailed Hello Kitty sketching on the pumpkin that didn’t quite happen. This year mama was prepared and they did a great job on the carving. 

Since the pumpkin carving went well, I decided to buy some white pumpkins for decorating our mantle and some small pumpkins for the kids to decorate. With tiny pumpkins in hand, paint and brushed, the kids went for it. We had snacks and of course some Juicy Juice Splashers on the side.  The Peach Tea flavor is perfect for the fall. Don’t worry, it’s caffeine free 🙂 

Mama Tip: Putting snacks and drinks near their art station decrease the chance of paint getting on the walls and anywhere else.

Why? Because the have no reason to get up. We all know kids always want something to eat or drink at the oddest of times. Painting time is when my kids always seem to get hungry or thirsty. 

Looking for family time fun for Halloween? Here’s an idea from Meredith Sinclair from Juicy Juice Family Time. You can find more crafts and other family time activities for Halloween on the site too. 

DIY Monster Mash-up

For a fun and crafty DIY, use your empty Juicy Juice boxes to create a monster mash-up! Clean your empty juice boxes thoroughly and using colored craft foam, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, markers, and a glue stick, make some “monsterpieces” of your own. Use them as a spooktacular display or insert and tape a popsicle stick to the bottom to make them into playfully petrifying puppets.

The kids pumpkins will go on display on the mantle along with the white pumpkins I have yet to decorate so stay tuned for that.