I wanted to make little pumpkin votives this weekend to light the path up to our house for trick-or-treaters on Halloween, but I didn’t want to carve all those pumpkins, so I thought—why don’t I just make some pumpkin votives with a drill? This project was so easy and took just an afternoon to make a bunch of pumpkin votives. Try it out with your older kids and light up your Halloween night!

MATERIALS

  • Small pumpkins
  • Hand drill
  • Drill bits of varying sizes
  • Permanent marker
  • Tealight candles
  • Paring knife
  • Spoon

First, remove the top of your pumpkin in a star-shaped pattern using your paring knife. Make sure the hole is big enough to fit your tealight candle! I made the mistake of cutting my first one too small and had to make it bigger. Scoop out the insides of the pumpkin and save the seeds for roasting later.

After your pumpkin has been thoroughly scooped out and rinsed, mark the design you’d like to drill with your permanent marker first (e.g., you could write out “Happy Halloween” in dots). Once you’ve marked out your pattern, carefully drill where there are permanent marker dots on your pumpkin. Use drill bits of varying sizes to make your patterns more interesting! After drilling, wipe off your pumpkin, insert the tealight candle and light! You’ve got yourself a beautiful pumpkin votive!