Watermelon Jack-o'-Lanterns

Create an awesome watermelon Jack-o’-Lantern in minutes and scare up frightful halloween night

Halloween will soon be upon us and one of my favorite past-times as a child was the carving of the pumpkins (actually we had to make do with turnips most of the time). The trouble is that pumpkins in Thailand tend to be small and flattish and not particularly great shapes for making lanterns with.

So Why Not Use a Watermelon Instead..

Watermelon are cheap, plentiful and lend themselves to making Halloween lanterns for many reasons. They are easy to carve and you can scoop out the insides in minutes making them ideal projects for kids plus they glow with a darker red color than pumpkins which makes them even more scary.

Some Simple Tips

You don’t want to get a watermelon that is too soft as it’ll lack strength
There’s a lot of water in watermelons so you may need to add a drain (hole) in the bottom of it or leave it upside down for a while.
Kids and knives aren’t the best combination but the good news is that these melons are easy to cut so you don’t need the sharpest knife.
Why not use the insides to make a great watermelon slushy. Just remove the seeds and bung it in the liquidizer with equal amounts of ice. For extra flavor you can add some fresh lime juice or even frozen strawberries.
Don’t make them too long before Halloween (best to make them on the day) as fruit flies and ants find them delicious and will soon come calling.
Shape the lid instead of cutting it straight across. This will help to keep it in place if you decide to carry it.
Draw the face design onto the watermelon before cutting out the shapes
Turn the pieces that you cut out from the eyes and mouth into horns and pin to the lid using toothpicks