For the last few years we’ve been going pumpkin carving at a local farm’s Pumpkin Parlour. My kids are generally the eldest there, well, the girls are. But we still enjoy it because it gives us a focus to do our pumpkins and we don’t have to deal with all the mess. Also, we have all the tools we need provided for us.
It’s very cold though!
The Pumpkin Parlour is set in a marquee on the farm car park. Once inside it’s very spooky with some fabulous decorations wherever you look and the staff helping are dressed up as witches and ghouls. We had four witches and a Dracula helping out on our Day. I’ve not been asked to write about this but the Pumpkin Parlour is held at Beckett’s Farm just off the M42 in Birmingham and costs just £2 per child. You do have to bring your own pumpkins but you can buy them from the farm shop for £3 or two for £5. It really is worth it, but you’ll have to book in advance as it’s very popular. (this year, 2023, Beckett’s farm have upgraded their Pumpkin Parlour to Pumpkin Extravaganza and it’s more expensive. I would still like to share our experience from previous years though.)
Pumpkin Parlour.
The Pumpkin Parlour is held in a marque and it’s decorated perfectly for Halloween. This is just one small side of the marquee and a fraction of the decoration, but it gives you some idea. It is a marquee though, so it’s very cold inside, make sure you and your kids are wrapped up warm.
They have long tables for you to sit at with your pumpkins and all the tools are arranged on the tables. The Scary helpers are there to assist at any time, and there is music playing with scary songs to add to the atmosphere.
Pumpkin Carving
The carving is set into easy to follow steps. First you take out the innards of the pumpkin with the scoops provided. They are just like ice cream scoops and do the job perfectly.
There are black cauldrons provided for the messy insides. I think the kids really enjoy digging it all out.
Next step is to choose your design. They provide templates or you can take your own. Star always like to do a Pokemon and she did Mimachu this year, which will look best with a candle in the dark. Boo and The Little Man both picked templates from the parlour.
The next step is to stick your template onto the pumpkin and they provide masking tape to do this. It can be tricky sticking masking tape to pumpkins but you can perservere. Then you have to go around the black lines of your design with a pin pushed into a cork. The kids love this part and you can see their concentration as they pin away.
Once pinned there is a bowl of chalk dust (or skeleton bone dust) on the table for them to rub over their pin marks. Then the adults generally take over to cut out the designs with the very sharp knives provided. We did let the girls make a start, but it’s not an easy task doing the carving. To keep the kid’s occupied while the adults take over they get to colour some little pictures. I was happy with this as I need some pictures for our Halloween Scavenger hunt today. They are already cut out for me with holes for hanging too.
Carved Pumpkins
The Little Mans minecraft themed pumpkin was first finished so I thought I’d play around with the innards and make it look like it was being sick. Well, he did look a little green!
I think Boo made a really scary pumpkin too, but I didn’t get a good photo of Star’s pumpkin so I’ll try again later when they are all lit up for Halloween.
How do you carve your pumpkins? I love that the kids get hands on at the Pumpkin Parlour (rather than leaving all the work to me) and that I don’t have to worry about any of the mess. They also love the atmosphere and event.
If Birmingham is too far to go We Are Going on an Adventure have a whole host of places to go pumpkin picking in York.
Also, There is a great list of places to go pumpkin picking here on North West for Kids blog.
BLOGTOBER 2019 POSTS
- Blotgober Day 1 – All You Need is Love
- Blogtober Day 2 – Coppafeel – Breast Cancer Awareness.
- Blogtober Day 3 – Out of Spoons (a poem)
- Blogtober Day 4 – Smile
- Blogtober Day 5 – Autumn Fashion
- Blogtober Day 6 -Baking
- Blogtober Day 7 – missed
- Blogtober Day 8 – The School Run
- Blogtober Day 9 – Avon Give Away
- Blogtober Day 10 – What I’m watching (or have watched) Lately
- Blogtober Day 11 – Blogtober
- Blogtober Day 12 – 6 Reflections on Autumn
- Blogtober Day 13 – Impractical Jokers
- Blogotber Day 14 – Weekly Meal Planning
- Blogtober Day 15 – Everybody Hurts Sometimes
- Blogtober Day 16 –The Horrible Craft Book
- Blogtober Day 17 – missed
- Blogtober Day 18 – Word of the Week – Worry
- Blogtober Day 19 – Christmas Crochet Along
- Blogtober Day 20 – My Sunday Photo – About Me
- Blogtober Day 21 – Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus – review
- Blogtober Day 22 – missed
- Blogtober Day 23 – Explaining the Different Types of Eating Disorders
- Blogtober Day 24 – Stiff Person Awareness Day 2019
- Blogtober Day 25 – Word of the Week – Sleep
- Blogtober Day 26 – missed
- Blogtober Day 27 – My Sunday Photo – C is for CAL
- Blogtober Day 28 – This is Halloween
- Blogtober Day 29 – missed
- Blogotber Day 30 – Fear and Horror Stories
- Blogtober Day 31 – The Pumpkin Parlour
What a brilliant idea! And I love that the mess can stay there too! Haha.
The finished pumpkins look fab. 🙂 x
What a great idea. I love that the mess doesn’t have to be at home. The pumpkin looks fab xx #ordinarymoments
Yes, I used to end up doing most of the work and all of the cleaning up at home, this makes life a lot easier and the kids enjoy it. x
This looks like such a great tradition to have – and the pumpkins look ace!! x
What a great place to pick and carve pumpkins. It sounds like a great day out. x
I never thought to use an ice cream scoop to get the insides out! That looks like a fun day out, it’s nice to do it altogether as a community.
I wish they would do this in my area. Such a good idea. It’s actually hard the first year you have to carve pumpkins with your child. I didn’t realise how hard or time-consuming it would be, I’ve got better helping after more experience lol but how handy to have all the tools ready etc. Brilliant fun xxx
We have been carving pumpkins for years, and yes they are time consuming and messy. We’ve made some amazing ones though and the kids love helping now they are older. xx