42 of the Most Creative Halloween Pumpkin Carving Ideas

Flamingo Pumpkin

It's always a bit easier to just paint them, right? And you can easily add everything you need to make a flock of them for your living room.

DIY Animal Pumpkins

Invite the girls over to spend an afternoon carving woodland creatures. They'll thank you later.

Finding Dory Pumpkins

Ya know, for the kids in your life. Don't forget to do Hank the Septopus!

Gold Leaf Patterned Pumpkin

Yes, you can add a chic touch to your decor with a *pumpkin*.

Cosmic Pumpkins

Those pre-painted plastic versions are the perfect backdrop for a night's sky or the Milky Way.

Emoji Head Pumpkins

Bring those keyboard faves to life this year with a stoop full of emojis.

Anatomy Pumpkins

Rather than hanging a skeleton outside the door to spook trick-or-treaters, carve these pumpkins for a more original take on the tradition.

DIY Cat Drilled Pumpkin

Opting for a repeating pattern and some paint creates a fresh look without having to spend hours carving out a ghoulish face.

Daisy Pumpkin

Celebrate the Summer of Love all the way into October with this boho, no-carve pumpkin design.

Pun-kins

Bow down, witches.

Cross-Stitch Pumpkins

Take your hobby to the next level this season with these charming & ghoulish designs.

Creepy Cat-Eye Pumpkin

This one doesn't need to be big to make a statement. The multitude of eyes staring back at you as you walk across the room is creepy enough.

Scalloped Pumpkin

Have some tissue confetti left over? Excellent. Layer it to create a fish-scale effect.

Tissue Paper Geometric Pumpkins

Decoupage to the rescue! Clear out your crafting stash and decorate your gourds in style.

Hocus Pocus Pumpkins

Hocus Pocus Pumpkins

Thackery Binx would be proud to sit by these while guarding the book and the black flame candle.

Tetris Pumpkin

AKA Pumpktris, this carved and LED-equipped 'kin is perfect for the throwback gamer in all of us.

Retro Label Maker Pumpkins

Live your office supply dreams all season long with a label maker.

Text Pumpkins

Text designs make a big impact without all the hard work.

Simple Tassel Pumpkin

There are never enough ways to use all the cute tassels in the world. This is ideal for adding texture to the waxy ones.

Pom Pom Pumpkins

Living colorfully is a 24/7 kind of lifestyle. Embrace the trend this fall with a collection of rainbow pumpkins.

Hot Crayon Pumpkin

Don't bother with melted crayon art. Instead, use the technique on these tiny little ones. They'd make a stylish centerpiece and are a way to get the kids involved.

Unicorn Pumpkin

Because we all need a little bit of magic as we go about our day.

Thanksgiving Pumpkin

White pumpkins are versatile, and this simple fabric paint DIY will carry you through from Halloween to Thanksgiving.

Candy Jar Carved Pumpkin

Turn your pumpkin into a candy jar with some knife skills and chalkboard paint.

String Art Pumpkin

String us along anytime for an art project that combines bright fabric, metal, and organic materials.

Turquoise Pumpkin

Rhinestones make everything prettier, and we love this DIY teal-painted take on the orange classic.

Cactus Pumpkin

These are simple to DIY and are a major conversation starter.

Gold Confetti-Dipped Pumpkin

These pumpkins were *meant* to be seen.

Modern Geometric Pumpkin

Since you won't be carving, stick to a smoother faux pumpkin for this DIY. Its less-pronounced ridges will make it easier to apply these vinyl pieces.

Gold Geo No-Carve Pumpkins

These geometric gold pumpkins may look fancy, but they only require you to use a gold pen.

Boho Agate Geode Jack-O-Lantern

Incorporate crystal magic into your Halloween decor-scape with agate slices that glow deep blue when candlelit.

Pumpkin Flower

This may not be for novices, but it's a totally different take on pumpkin carving for those at home with a scalpel.

White Moon

Simple yet refreshingly different, this white pumpkin carving is perfect for beginners.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead

Inspired by El Día de los Muertos, this skull pumpkin is more adorable than spooky.

Abstract Pumpkin

Turn pumpkins into art by painting an abstract design in your favorite colors.

Harry Potter

If people wear costumes on Halloween, why can't pumpkins get in on the fun?

As a Power of Women honoree, Mariska was recognized in regards to her work as an advocate for sexual assault survivors. She took the stage and used her platform to discuss rape and assault conviction reversals, shining a light on the recent overturned ruling in Harvey Weinstein's landmark NYC case. Here's what she said:

Today I want to talk about reversing convictions, and more specifically I want to talk to you about how impossible it is to reverse mine. It’s impossible to reverse my conviction that survivors matter. It is impossible to reverse my conviction that what happens to us matters, and that our society must respond to survivors with a more a compassionate, holistically, deeper, and more nuanced understanding of what healing means.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that after a trauma, survivors can reclaim lives of hope, of possibility, of audacious risk, beautiful intimacy, and glorious, glorious abundant joy. And I stand before you as evidence of that statement.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that we must listen to survivors as experts on what justice means. It is extraordinary how little their voices are consulted, let alone incorporated, in the process of deciding how to repair harm. Justice is not a one-size-fits-all journey.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that patriarchal impunity has to end. Patriarchal impunity is when a male-dominated system exempts perpetrators from punishment. Studies show that only 20% of all rape cases in the U.S. are reported to the police, and that between 5 and 0% of all rapes result in a guilty plea or a conviction. So why do 80% of victims not report? Because they're met with a system that grants impunity to perpetrators; a system that blames victims; a system that accepts only those victims who are experienced as "real" rape; a system that completely misunderstands the neurobiology of trauma, which causes behavior in women that doesn't fit the picture of how a "real victim" would act.

Is that change needed that victims should just pull themselves together? Just buck up and report anyway? No. No, it's the system that receives them that needs to change

It is impossible to reverse my conviction — and the conviction of my extraordinary team, The Joyful Heart — that the backlog of untested rape kits can be brought to zero; that the testing of all new kits must be mandated; that we need a statewide kit tracking system; and that survivors have the right to access the status of their kits.

It is impossible to reverse my conviction that grammar — yes, grammar — that we use when we speak about rape must change. In the sentence, "A woman is raped," there's a crime and there's a victim, but there's no perpetrator. Where's the perpetrator? Where is he? Statistically, as we know, most likely he's walking free. He's so free that he doesn't even appear in the language about the crime that he committed. Is that not extraordinary? It's extraordinary that in the very grammar, the perpetrator goes free. Reintroducing perpetrators in the language of rape will make some very unwieldy grammar, but that's the nature of change. It's unwieldy, it's messy, it's uncomfortable, but it's necessary.

Hargitay continued on in her prolific speech to describe that rape shouldn't be considered a "crime of passion" because it's "not simply the next step in the trajectory of his passion" when a man takes a consensual hookup too far and assaults a woman against her will. She stated that it's "an exercise of power," doubling down that the language we use is important.

The speech went on to address that rape is both about power and control, as a "construct" that was "built, and assembled, and reinforced over time." She noted that there are people with these positions of power — and she specifically called out those in the entertainment industry — that could make a difference and aligned themselves to victims and survivors.

After this and some other remarks, Hargitay specifically called out the Weinstein conviction reversal. She said:

I do want to say something about the Harvey Weinstein conviction, specifically about the reason that it was overturned: too many women's voices. Too many women's voices were allowed to speak. Hallelujah! Amen! I can't imagine anything more beautiful than that. The Daily podcast episode talked about how it was so risky for the prosecution to have that many women testify. Risky to let women speak? You're damn right it is!

Too many women speaking brings change. Too many women speaking shakes the establishment. Too many women means we get listened to more, and people might actually hear what we have to say. Look what happened when women started saying just two words, right? Me too — just as an example — a tidal wave of change. Me too.

And then of course, there was the response: the Me Too Movement. The backlash. The examination of whether the changes that have come are lasting, or are even positive. Of course there's a backlash! What did they expect? For women to speak repeatedly, loudly, together, with a purpose — for there to be no backlash? The backlash is evidence of how powerful those voices were, how powerful those voices ARE.

Watch Mariska Hargitay's Full Speech Here

Turns out that your TV heroes really can be your IRL heroes after all. Long live Olivia Benson! Long live Mariska Hargitay!