How to Make Mid-Century Modern Jack O' Lanterns

When it comes to Halloween decorations, there's a fine line between kitsch and classic. Some traditions, however, are too good to pass up. Carving pumpkins is a long-standing tradition for a reason: It's a lot of fun! This year, we decided to put a twist on the classic jack o' lantern and try something different: Mid century modern pumpkins. These mid-century themed jack o lanterns are a fun way to combine the spirit of the holidays and your design aesthetic.

Eames mid century modern pumpkin jack o lantern

To start, it's the same as always. Cut a hole at the top of the pumpkin to remove the stem, clean out the inside of the pumpkin and pick your design. Don't forget to make the hole at the top large enough for you to put your entire hand in. (We learned that the hard way!)

We opted for two fun designs: The classic Eames dot pattern and the Eames LCM lounge chair. They are both pretty straightforward, don't require a ton of artistic talent and are easily recognizable.

The Eames dot pattern was done freehand. Although you could use a template, drawing it freehand allows you to adjust the pattern to the size of the pumpkin. Plus, it's just lines and circles - this one's not too tricky!

We also opted to use some stencils. This is an Eames LCW stencil - feel free to print it out for yourself! You may need to adjust the size to make sure that it suits your pumpkin.

There's also an Eames Lounge Chair stencil available from a blog called Cool Pumpkins. We printed it out to use it, but it ended up being a little big for the pumpkins we had.

Using the stencil, we traced the chair right onto the pumpkin using a black pen and then started carving! Both of these designed were straightforward and didn't require any specialty equipment. We used a $5 carving kit and they came out just fine.

These mid-century modern Jack-o-lanterns are hanging out on our front porch. We placed battery-powered tea lights inside since that's what we already had at home, and they look great. Hopefully the trick-or-treaters will be impressed! Maybe we need some retro candy to hand out on Halloween?