Giving dollar store pumpkins a spooky face life has never been so budget-friendly
When spooky season rolls around each year, I can’t help but storm every single Halloween store near my home in Toronto. Spirit Halloween, Party City, Hot Topic, even Walmart are far from immune to my spooky fever. I love wandering the aisles and gawking at all the eerie home decor, kitchen accessories and adorable collectibles I want—no, need—in my life.
But then I look at their price tags and find myself putting the items back on their shelves just as quickly as I snatched them. Listen, I’m all for purchasing spooky finds but a single two-inch foam pumpkin painted to the likeness of a classic Halloween character for a whopping $15 is where I draw the line.
And as I took the walk of shame out of each store empty-handed, I was left with the same thought: why not create my own spooky decor and do it on a budget? Well friends, that’s exactly what I did. And I’m so excited to share this super easy and affordable DIY that sees dollar store Halloween pumpkins transformed into the heads of Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas with nothing more than paper stencils, paint and a free afternoon.
Here’s what you’ll need for the project:
- 2 to 3 inch foam pumpkins
- Paint (white, brown and black)
- Paintbrushes
- Pencil and paper (for drawing the stencil)
The Steps:
First things first, you’ll need to head over to your nearest dollar or bargain store in search of little foam pumpkins. I was able to find a package of four pumpkins with a set of acorns for $2—what a score! You’ll also want to pick up any additional items you may need, such as paint, a pack of pencils and paintbrushes. Fortunately, I had everything I needed for the project (minus the pumpkins) at home, so my total cost for the project was just a few bucks.
Once you have everything you need, begin by giving your pumpkins a quick wipe to ensure they are completely clean before you start applying your first coat of paint. The colour I’m using for Jack Skellington is a subdued off-white, but really any white paint works! For Oogie Boogie, I’m using a cashmere tan as it was the closest I could find to the shade of burlap.
Give each pumpkin a generous first coat, making sure every inch of the pumpkin (excluding the stem) is covered in paint. I made the mistake of not applying paint to every nook and cranny and you can see some bits of orange peeking through the part where the stem meets the pumpkin top. This is what your pumpkins will look like after the first coat is applied (see below!).
While I waited for the first coat to dry, I began working on the small face stencils that help map out the character’s facial features on the pumpkins. I did this by cutting two small squares out of a sheet of blank white paper. Using a digital image of the characters sized down to the proportions I needed for my pumpkin, I traced each face onto the squares.
With a pair of small, pointed sewing scissors, I cut out the characters’ eyes and mouths to create the stencils. But if you don’t have scissors small enough to cut out the tiny details, an Exacto knife should also do the trick.
Now that the stencils were made, I gave the pumpkins their second coat of paint. You might be able to get away with one layer of paint, but I recommend using two coats to stop the original orange colour from seeping through or prevent any noticeable paint streaks. After your pumpkins are dry to the touch following multiple coats, it’s time to trace Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie’s faces onto the pumpkins.
I’m not gonna lie, this part is definitely a challenge because the pumpkins’ surfaces aren’t smooth. So the best way to go about drawing on their faces is by holding the stencil to the pumpkin with one hand and using the other to slowly trace their eyes, mouths, noses and eyebrows. Forewarning, Jack and Oogie’s faces will look a little wonky. But we can fix it with paint.
As the last step of the DIY, simply fill in your sketch with black paint using a thin brush that allows you to cover even the smallest of details. The best tip I can give is to just go slow and remember that if you mess up, you can always paint over your happy little accident and try again.
No matter how many tries it takes, you’ll still end up with these adorable pumpkins sure to add a touch of spookiness to whatever room they haunt.
Aren’t they just the cutest? If you think so, I really hope you give them a try this spooky season! I’d love to see your version of these pumpkins so be sure to tag @paper.and.lore on Instagram to be featured in our stories.
Want to see this diy in action? Check out our tiktok Tutorial
Happy DIYing!
Paper & Lore 
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