No-Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas

Entertaining expert Katie Jacobs knows blue and white is always on trend. Pick up a faux pumpkin and paint a ginger jar pattern design to add to your table or covered porch. The great thing about this pumpkin is that it will never go out of style.

Make the most of heirloom pumpkins with layers of dry-pressed flowers and leaves. "When you carve a pumpkin, you'll get a week out of it, tops," says entertaining expert Katie Jacobs. "But an uncarved one will give you a month for sure, maybe two. Plus, applying Mod Podge glue over the entirety will seal it and help it last even longer."

Wash and dry the pumpkin well. Then use Mod Podge to adhere dry-pressed leaves and flowers in the pattern you pick, starting at the stem and working your way out from there. (Jacobs chose ginkgo leaves, Apache plumes, and bleached ferns found on etsy.com.) You can also incorporate leaves from your yard, she says, but you will have to wash them and let them dry out for a few weeks before applying.

For this all-natural look, SL craft guru Buffy Hargett Miller started with a gray-green pumpkin. Pick one with an indented top, because the first step will be to add potting soil to fill in the hollow around the pumpkin's stem. Moisten the soil; then plant various succulents, starting with larger ones like echeverias. Create a lush look and round out the arrangement by filling in any bare spots with smaller succulents.

We like Hoffman Organic Cactus & Succulent Soil Mix ($10.90; amazon.com). Moisten soil before planting.

Add some glitter to your pumpkins with an explosion of sequins. Attach your favorite sequins to your pumpkins with some glue and they will catch the light even without a candle inside. 

Create elegant indoor pumpkin displays with a little gold and black paint. Choose a few pumpkins of different sizes and shapes. Come up with a different pattern for each pumpkin, but keep to the same color-scheme.

Pumpkin topiaries can be enjoyed inside and out. Keep your stack to two or three pumpkins and vary the colors. You can place them on an urn or standing alone. Once you're happy with your stack, fill in the holes with moss. 

If you're a fan of vintage milk glass, extend that love to your pumpkins. Use puffy paint and some white spray paint to get the look.

If you have a festive celebration coming up, go for an impressive and unique centerpiece by covering pumpkins with mums. While this design does involve puncturing the pumpkin enough to stick in the stems, we think it is worth it. You can cover the entire pumpkin with pretty mums or group them in bunches. 

This luxe look begins with paint. Start by spray-painting a small pumpkin gold and a larger pumpkin a creamy shade of white. For a more formal and dramatic effect, apply gold leaf to a larger pumpkin. To create a seasonal arrangement for a sideboard, add nandina berries to the tops of both pumpkins and surround the duo with pinecones that are spray-painted gold.

If you're all about fall, glue some colorful leaves to your pumpkin. The contrast against a white pumpkin is amazing, but any shade would do. 

Etch your house number, monogram, or a simple pattern into your pumpkins to add a personal touch to your front porch display.

These days, craft stores are filled with different patterned tape designs. For this elegant display, we used metallic washi tape on white pumpkins to create neutral designs.

Upholstery tacks in different shapes and sizes instantly dress up a plain white pumpkin. Mark out your pattern and gently tap in your tacks. Vary the size and shape for even more interest.

This pumpkin decorating technique is the perfect weekend activity for little hands. Tear up paper in some of your favorite shades and decoupage a faux pumpkin in a design to your liking.