Pumpkin Carving Ideas for a Fun Halloween Date Night

Ready to make pumpkin carving a little more fun? Try these pumpkin carving ideas that are perfect for a fun Halloween date night!

Pumpkin Carving Ideas (Perfect for Date Night).

*This post may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure and terms for more info.*

Ever since we started dating (over a decade ago) we almost always put a pumpkin carving date night on our calendar when we plan Halloween Date Ideas. Seriously, don’t just leave this one to kids, pumpkin carving makes a great date night! And while grabbing a pumpkin and carving in a traditional sense is always fun, there’s so much more you can do!

If you’re ready to have a fun fall date idea, try one of these pumpkin carving ideas!

Pumpkin Carving Ideas with a couple carving pumpkins for date night.

Prepare Your Pumpkins and Setup

Trust us, this date takes long enough to complete; you’ll want to make sure you have the setup before you start.

Double-check you have a space where you can get a little messy with pumpkin guts/ insides and supplies.
Make sure you each have a carving knife. At least two knives are needed so you can both have fun with your creative pumpkin carving ideas.

You’ll also need some lights and a plan to let the light shine through your pumpkins. So make sure you’re ready to add some small holes first before you get going too far into your pumpkin carving fun.

Pumpkin Carving Date Night Ideas

Get A Template

Choose pumpkin carving templates online and help each other carve your favorite one. WE have tons of classic scary pumpkin templates for classic faces if you need a good free template.

Carve a Pumpkin Portrait

Carve each other as pumpkin faces

Have a Friendly Competition

Grab the same carving template and turn it into a competition

Create Some Fan Art Together

Find a famous couple and turn them into carved coordinating pumpkins

Create an Adjoint Pumpkin Work of Art

Each of you takes half of a face or pattern to carve and make your pumpkins join together to reveal the full picture

Pumpkin Kit Competition

Buy two pumpkin carving kits. Try carving face-to-face, so you can’t see what the other person is doing. Try to guess which pattern the other person created, and have a big reveal at the end.

Creative Group Date with a New Twist

Make it a group date, with some creative rules. Create some cutouts, and then pass them on to the next couple, who have to incorporate them in their pumpkin designs. Or, grab a small pumpkin or two for each person to have to incorporate. The 3D elements add some new inspiration and encourage a lot more creativity.

Themed Competition

Go with a theme. Make a rule that everyone has to create the same thing (like ghosts, scary faces, witches, vampires, a movie that came out this year, etc.) have all the guests at your group date vote on who best accomplished the task!

Pumpkin Patch Date

Start with a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins to carve. You can make this a marathon date and get carving right after your pumpkin patch trip. However, it’s fun to stretch this into two consecutive dates and plan a pumpkin carving date night after a pumpkin patch date.

Painting Pumpkins

If you don’t love all the prep work and mess, get acrylic craft paints and plan to paint your pumpkins. This is extra fun if you get a bumpy gourd and roll with the shapes and unique spaces.

Power Wash Carving Pumpkins

This is trending on TikTok, and it’s amazing to watch! We are planning to try this on a pumpkin before Halloween. Grab your power wash and use the full power to power wash carve a simple pumpkin face. You will enjoy an easy and quick way to make a jack-o-lantern, or get a really good laugh out of it! And perhaps, maybe you’ll experience both!

Fun Ideas While You’re Carving Pumpkins

Play a Halloween movie in the background while you carve
Bring some Halloween Puppy Chow, Halloween candy, or Halloween popcorn mix for a fun snack
Find a fun Halloween playlist to listen to
Be ready with a battery-powered candle so you can set them up and enjoy them.
Don’t forget to take pictures of both your carved pumpkins and of each person with their masterpiece.
Set them out on the porch for trick-or-treaters to vote on – whichever candy bowl empties first is the winner.