Pumpkin alternatives / Alternative pumpkins

For the past couple years my thing has been to carve alternative jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. That is, jack-o-lanterns carved from non-pumpkin fruits.

2004: Jack-o-pineapple
Two years ago I used a pineapple. It was awesome. It made an amazingly cute jack-o-lantern, though my dad said that it was the "ugliest pumpkin [he's] ever seen". The topknot was my favorite part. Pineapples don't make the most practical jack-o-lanterns, however. They prefer to be cut along the edges of their hexagonal sections, which isn't necessarily where you would prefer to cut them. My jack-o-lantern's 3rd tooth fell off because it was attached along one of those edges. They also don't have the desired structural integrity once their insides are removed. I carved mine the evening before halloween, and by trick-or-treating time, it had a hard time holding up its topknot. One thing to be said for pinapples, aside from their overall cuteness, is that they smell really good as the candle slowly cooks them. :)

2005: Melo-lantern

Last year I went with a watermelon. This one was also super cute. I love the face I carved for it! Even now, I still grin whenever I see it. Carving a jack-o-lantern out of a watermelon was originally my dad's idea. It must have been the Fall of 1996, he had a watermelon growing in his compost heap (an escaped melon!). We made grand plans to carve it while we were visiting my grandma, but by the time we got back to GA, we were tired and I had to get home anyway. Too bad, because as you can see, it was a great idea! I'm glad I finally put it into practice. Melons aren't quite as sturdy as pumpkins either, but it wasn't nearly as flimsy as the pineapple was.

For this year, I hadn't yet decided what to use for my jack-o-lantern. I've been intrigued for some time by the idea of making lots of little ones out of grapefruit. I think their rinds would definitely be thick enough. But I'm not sure how feasible getting the insides out would be. I've been meaning to keep my eye out for good pumpkin alternatives, but got talked into going to a local pumpkin patch (Bobby Dazzler's) with Erin last week, and have decided upon alternative pumpkins instead.

Oh man, it was so cool! I've never been to a pumpkin patch before. It's been there every year that I've been in Davis, but I never went. Now I wish I had! There were so many cool pumpkins! I expected it to just be a patch of normal pumpkins, but they had lots of freaky ones! I'm all about the freaky pumpkins! With pumpkins like these, I don't have to think outside the pumpkin for my jack-o-lantern! I don't know if pumpkin patches like this are a California thing, or if they're a symptom of the Martha-Stewart-ization of the world. Do you guys have pumpkin patches all over the place? (Seriously, there are probably 5 of them within a 10-20 mile radius of me.) I got 4 pumpkins. Isn't that crazy? I've never been into overboard decorating for holidays, but I made a concession of one jack-o-lantern for Halloween, mostly because I like carving them so much. But look at me now! I have 3 pumpkins on my balcony. (The fourth is decorating lab.) None of them are normal! It's great. One of them is white. Another is a deep orange mottled with white spots. The third is grey and really wrinkly, I think it looks like a brain; the variety is named "New Zealand Blue". Ooh, New Zealand! The one in lab is called a "Red Warty Thing", and I guess is a kind of squash. It's a deep orange and is just covered in very wart-like bumps. I also got a few acorn squashes to make into stew. Mmmm. But enough words, see my three home-pumpkins for yourself!:

More pictures to come once I've carved them, of course.