Glowing Lightbulb Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin

This is by far one of the neatest Jack-o-Lanterns I've ever made. My husband surprised me with a pumpkin, so I decided I wanted to make something different than my usual carving.I used things I had lying around in my much-too-extensive craft supply collection. The sockets for the bulbs were left over from the paper lanterns that provided the lighting for my wedding reception and the bouquet pearls were left over from my wedding as well. You can use items from home, or if you need to buy the supplies, you'll probably need to get the lightbulb sockets/wiring from a local hardware store for about $10. (And maybe some decorative wire from a craft store to add those finishing touches!!)

Supplies you'll need:
•Large Carving Pumpkin (Mine's about 13" tall)
•Knife/Carving Tools
•Standard Lightbulb Sockets with Wiring & Wall Plug (I used 3)
•A Lightbulb for Each Socket (I used 40W, but those are MUCH too bright!!)
•Permanent Marker
Decorating Supplies: (Optional)
•Heavy Gauge Wire (I used 12ga)
•One Small Potato
•Spray Paint
•Bouquet Pearls (I used 6)
•Toothpicks
•Two Cotton Balls

Step 1: DIG IN!! Carve Up Your Pumpkin!

The thought of making an 'ible for this didn't occur to me until I had already done the general cleaning out of the innards of the pumpkin, so I don't have photos of that, but unless you've never carved a pumpkin before it shouldn't be too difficult to remember the process!

Cut a hole in the top around the stem. Be sure to angle your cuts inward so as your pumpkin dries it wont cause your "lid" to fall down inside the body of the pumpkin. Also make sure you leave a notch in your circle so you can easily tell how the "lid" is supposed to fit -- for future reference.

Clean out all the innards and be sure to use a spoon or pumpkin scraper to get alllllllllll the gooeyness out of the pumpkin. You want the inside to be very solid and as dry as possible!

Next, cut out the mouth. I went with a basic semi-circle mouth as not to detract from all my pumpkin's crazy headgear! This will give you a second access hole and will make the smaller holes MUCH easier to cut. (And also, the simpler the shape of the mouth, the less you'll have to worry about accidentally knocking off a tooth or something as your banging around inside your pumpkin!)

Then cut the eye socket holes. I unscrewed the assembly for my lightbulbs and used the top of it to measure my hole. (Be sure the holes are far enough apart for the large end of the lightbulbs not to be bumping together!)

Finally, cut an access hole in the top back of the pumpkin for your wires. I also made mine big enough to hold the socket for the bulb that will light the inside of the pumpkin itself as a candle wont be an option because of my sockets and wiring inside the pumpkin.

Step 2: Pick Your Nose (color)...

If you're using my method, cut your potato in half and pray paint it the color of your choice.

Step 3: Begin Your Assembly.

Put your bulb sockets into the pumpkin and pull the wires through your back access hole. Then wedge your third socket into the hole as well. (You'll want to pull the back of the socket out through the access hole so that the majority of the socket is hidden inside the pumpkin.)

Push three toothpicks into the pumpkin in the middle of the spot where the nose will go, leaving about 1" of them sticking out of the pumpkin. Push your potato nose firmly onto the toothpicks.

If you've already screwed in your bulbs, take them out and craw large eyes over the top of the printed labels, the bigger the better!!

Step 4: Bling on the Extras!!

Add your final touches to complete your crazy Jack-o-Lantern! I twisted up my heavy gauge wire and put cotton balls on the top and stick them into the top as well as using bouquet pearls to decorate. 

Once this is done, plug in your lights and enjoy the show!!