The Carve-less Jack-O-Lantern

My in-laws have a great garden. It is huge, and year after year, it produces amazing amounts of produce. This year they grew pumpkins, and let all their grandkids choose one to bring home.

My daughter chose a very cute, perfectly round, and brilliantly orange one. She played with it like a doll. I'm not even kidding. The pumpkin got tucked in at night.

When it was Halloween, and the time came to carve them, she just didn't have the heart to cut and gut her little friend. But, she still wanted it to be a jack-o-lantern. Hmm.....
My brilliant idea? Mr. Potato Head accessories! She was so excited about this, and so happy that she didn't have to cut her pumpkin open. She dashed downstairs to the play room, and brought up our container of pieces from that toy. She dug through carefully, finding the exact right features for her pumpkin.

She held the pumpkin steady for me as I used a screwdriver to puncture it with appropriately spaced holes.

And she got to work assembling it.

Success! Isn't it cute? She was so proud of it, and it made her soooo happy. I am certain that she will choose to do this again. (And hey - one less pumpkin to scrape out was a good selling point for me!)