I know I’m not going to be popular with what I’m going to say here . . . but I’m one of the few people who don’t LOVE the scary part of Halloween. :) It’s not that I didn’t enjoy making costumes and dressing my kids up every year, but their costumes were always cute Halloween, not scary Halloween. As a kid growing up, I remember “Nightmare Theater”. It was a show that came on late every Friday night. These were the days of black and white television, which somehow made the movies even more frightening! My sister’s both loved watching “Nightmare Theater” and would sometimes hold me down, pry my eyes open and force me to watch it with them. To this day, I can’t watch a scary movie. Hocus Pocus is even a little too much for me, but I force myself to watch it every year – mostly because the costumes and the brooms are amazing!

Because I just can’t do the scary, creepy, gory part of Halloween, I choose to decorate with a lot of pumpkins. Pumpkins are the perfect fall decoration! The real ones last longer than we want them to, as long as unruly teenagers don’t throw them out in the road, and the faux ones lasts forever!

Last year I found these cute pumpkin arrangements at one of my favorite nurseries here in Utah, Sun River Gardens. I bought some to give to friends, and they were a hit! They were made using a real pumpkin and real succulents, and Sun River actually has a class you can take to make one. When choosing your pumpkins, examine each one carefully. Don’t get any with soft spots or gouges, they won’t last as long. You need to use fresh, unblemished pumpkins. You will also need small succulent plants, or succulent cuttings. Believe it or not, hot glue will not kill a succulent! And when you want to be done with the pumpkin, you can pull the succulent off the moss, wrap the stem in a wet paper towel, and propagate it. As soon as it begins to grow roots, you can plant it in a little pot with dirt.

This year, I decided to do them as an activity for the girls I teach in my church activity day group. I decided to use faux pumpkins and succulents instead of real ones, because I wanted them to last forever. Hobby Lobby has all their fall items 50% off, and they have a huge selections of faux pumpkins and succulents.

This is a simple, quick, and easy craft with very few supplies needed. You can use any size pumpkin depending on how big or small you want your finished project. I personally like the mini pumpkins, as well as tiny succulent plants in a variety of sizes and shapes. I also like to use reindeer moss as the base for the succulents, and it comes in a variety of colors. The only other thing you will need is some wire cutters to trim your succulents off the stem, a hot glue gun, hot glue sticks and whatever you want to arrange it on. I bought some dinner napkins at Hobby Lobby that came in a four pack, an orange and cream pip berry garland that I took apart to arrange around the base of the pumpkin, a package of mini faux fall leaves, and a package of cream colored acorns mixed with mini pinecones.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are putting together a floral arrangement:

· You hardly ever use an entire stem of greenery or flowers. Most of the time, you separate them into smaller pieces by cutting them apart with wire cutters and then arrange them to look as if they grew in your yard, or in a pot – or in this case, on top of a pumpkin.

· You will want to leave the stem on the pumpkin to peek through the foliage. I made a little hole in my moss, and slid it over the stem. Then I carefully glued it in place by lifting up the moss, squirting a small amount of hot glue under the moss, and laying the moss back down. Be careful not to push the moss down too hard, or you will get burned. Then fill in with smaller pieces of moss as needed to give a good base to glue your succulent plants to.

· You will want to place the biggest plant pieces first, and then fill in around them with the smaller pieces.

· Arrange your plant sprigs on top of the moss before you glue them in place. That way you will have a better idea of where you want to place them, and what it will look like. Be sure it looks good all the way around, not just in the front. I like to use a variety of sizes, colors and shapes to add dimension and contrast.

· As a general rule, an odd number of items in an arrangement is more pleasing and balanced to look at. However if you are using ten or more items, it no longer matters if you have an odd amount of items.

· Be super careful using hot glue!!!! Be sure not to push too hard on the moss you place on the top of the pumpkin, just tap it lightly so the glue doesn’t squish through the moss and burn your fingers. Also, some plant pieces are made of plastic, and it will melt and drip if not placed quickly into your arrangement. Melted plastic mixed with hot glue is extremely hot!!! Sometimes I squirt a tiny bit of glue in the place I want to put my stems, and then push the stems into the glue. That helps to not get burned as easily.

· If you are using a fabric napkin, you’ll want to iron it so you won’t be able to see the creases and fold-lines.

· When you’ve finished your pumpkin, decide where you are going to place your centerpiece and put the ironed fabric napkin down first. Then arrange the little orange and white pip berry sprigs in a circle around the base of your pumpkin being careful to tuck the stems under the sprigs to hide them. Be sure to “fluff” the little sprigs first, and try to make them look like a living plant would look. If you leave them straight and all stuck together, they don’t look real. I curved mine to form a circular shape, almost like a small sparse wreath.

· Place your pumpkin in the circle of orange and white pip berry sprigs.

· The last part is to sprinkle the tiny fall leaves, acorns, and pinecones around your pumpkin on the decorative fabric napkin. Try to make it look like they had fallen there on their own.

· When it’s time to put your centerpiece away for the season, I like to put all the little leaves, pine cones, acorns and any loose pip berry sprigs in plastic zip-lock baggies being careful not to smash anything. You can also carefully put your pumpkin in a big zip-lock baggie, or you can get a small clear plastic bin from Walmart to store all the pieces in. That way it will all be together in one place, and you can use it year after year.

This is a classic decoration that will last forever if you want it to, and it’s not scary. :) For me, Halloween decorations that are cute and happy bring LIGHT into my heart and home! I love them on the front porch, perched on a fireplace mantle, or sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. Pumpkins are the perfect Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving decoration whether they are real or faux. Happy-Cute-Not-Scary Halloween from Candle in the Window! :)

Love Ya, Les :)

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Pumpkin Succulent Centerpiece