How to Throw a Pumpkin Carving Party

Yesterday, I shared some tips and tricks on how to preserve your carved pumpkins. Today, I am sharing tips on how to throw a pumpkin carving party! Every year we get together with our friends and their kids to carve pumpkins. It is one of my favorite traditions that we have. This year we have a few more people coming so it’s going to be more like a small party and that means more planning is involved.

I love hosting people over at our house and over the years I have really honed in on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to hosting a get-together. So, here are my tips and tricks for throwing a fun pumpkin carving party!

How to Throw a Pumpkin Carving Party

Food & Drink

The menu for parties is the first thing I like to tackle. The amount of guests really dictates what I like to serve. I usually ask the guests to bring one element of the meal so it takes all the pressure off of me and how much prep I have to do.

For the meal, I like to keep it simple and usually something I can make ahead. My favorite thing to do is to lay out a food bar of some kind. This allows guests can take what they want and make different combinations. Food bars are easy to put together and there are so many types you can do! I have done taco bars and a pizza bar where we did personal pizzas. The possibilities are endless! A selection of appetizers and snacks would be fun too!

For our pumpkin carving party this year, I am making a crockpot full of chili and laying out the different toppings. Keeping the kids in mind, it will be a mild chili and they can add to it whatever they want. I have asked our guests to bring cornbread and a salad to share.

We always like to offer a variety of non-alcoholic drinks and a few adult beverages as well. This year we have flavored sparkling water and some pumpkin beer and one of our friends is bringing some wine to share too!

Ambiance & Entertainment

While the main event of our party is the pumpkin carving, I like to have either a fun movie or playlist on in the background. It fills in any gaps in conversation. I have a collection of festive movies for this time of year and there are a ton of Halloween playlists on Spotify!

Carving Setup

For our carving setup, I like to cover our kitchen table with craft paper. In the middle of the table, I place two large bowls for the seeds and the stringy bits. I like to save the seeds and roast them for a delicious snack. I also place our carving kit out which includes different types of carving knives. Spoons, sharpie markers, and scrap paper round out the supplies.

I also share some little catalogs that came with some of the carving knives that have face designs in them for our guests to use. But I like to hit up Pinterest to get my ideas for what to carve. So, below is a PDF with 20 different design ideas that you can use to carve your pumpkins this year or share with your friends and family! Happy carving!