It’s almost the spooky season, and what better way to prepare than to spend an afternoon carving pumpkins with your friends. However, choosing a design which is cute, fun and unique can be super difficult year after year. Luckily this guide contains a bunch of easy cottagecore pumpkin carving ideas to make the coolest pumpkin on the porch. Now these ideas may not all be commonly cottagecore, but I’ve tried to keep to the theme of niche, cute pumpkin ideas.

1. Witchy Pumpkin

This pumpkin design is a bit more unique since it actually requires you to turn the pumpkin on it’s side! Yes, this witchy design is taking advantage of the pumpkin stem looking like a witch’s large, warty nose. This is the perfect cottagecore pumpkin carving since witches add an element of whimsy to your decorations. You can also make it more cottagecore by including elements from traditional witchcraft practices. These could be such as burning sage inside the pumpkin, or hanging stems of lavender.

The key to this design is including stereotypical witchy features: like moles, bushy eyebrows, and a large toothy grin. Think of the evil stepmother from ‘Snow White’ as a good reference. We can also add other details, like a witches hat and a straw broom to really sell the design.

For the mole and eyebrows, it may be better to simply carve these into the pumpkin rather than cut them out entirely. To do this, use a spoon and firmly press into the pumpkin. Hold your thumb against the head of the spoon as you’re scooping for added control. You can then go over the design again with the knife for added detail.

2. Mike Wazowski from ‘Monsters Inc.’

What’s a better spooky yet cottagecore pumpkin carving idea than a lovable monster? Mike is such a lovable character but still keeps the spook factor for a cute Halloween decoration. It’s a super easy idea too!

All you need to do is carve a large hole into the front of the pumpkin, leaving a small circle at the bottom as a pupil. Then, draw a large jagged semicircle below it, to form the smile. Save the pieces you carved out and use toothpicks to stick small triangles to the top of the pumpkin, and Voila! The perfect Mike Wazowski pumpkin.

3. Sick Pumpkin

This is relatively common for pumpkin carving ideas, but still fun nonetheless! This cottagecore pumpkin carving is also easy since the ‘guts’ make the whole design messy, so your lines can be a bit messy too! To add a cottagecore element, you can change the design slightly to incorporate some older folk cures for ills. For example, you could have the pumpkin ‘drinking’ ginger tea from a clear pot, or you could stuff a bunch of posy’s or lavender into the pumpkins nose as a fun twist.

For the eyes, try to carve them to to appear as though the eyes are clenched and closed. You can do this by carving two ‘V’ shapes pointing towards each other. If you want to add eyebrows carve them following the angle of the top of the eyes. Then, simply carve a large hole for the mouth and spread the pumpkin guts across the bottom of the mouth and spilling outwards.

Another fun way to enhance this is by using a green pumpkin to really sell the idea that your pumpkin’s feeling squeamish.

4. Orange Cat

Orange cat pumpkins are an adorable option for less scary and more fun cottagecore pumpkin carving ideas. Another cool feature of this is that when it’s dark out, the design turns into a black cat. These are often seen to be the companions or familiars of witches, so this design will pair well with the first idea.

Carving a cat face is easy, simply carve a downwards triangle for the nose and 6 lines (3 on each side) branching off from it. For the eyes, you can go for a more stylised approach to keep the design cute. Carve two circles out nearer the top of the pumpkins and either side of the ‘nose’

For the ears, you can use two methods. Firstly, you could keep the pumpkin scraps and, like with the Mike Pumpkin, use toothpicks to place two triangular pieces atop the pumpkin. Secondly, You could carve the ears into the pumpkin, just be sure to put them further upwards and outwards from the eyes.

5. Robot Pumpkin

For a futuristic touch, a robot pumpkin is the perfect design. People often don’t associate robots and modern technology with cottagecore, but I think you could by taking this in an eco-brutalism or steampunk direction.

It’s a cool yet easy way to twist common designs into cottagecore pumpkin carving ideas. All you need to do is swap out the jagged lines and sharp points of the mouth and eyes with clean cuts and squares. You could also swap out the eye cut outs for cogs for the added steampunk touch.

But to connect the robot idea back to cottagecore, you could create a seen of the robot being rusted and overtaken by nature. A good inspiration for this would be ‘the iron giant’. You could take fallen leaves and branches from the season changing and layer it over the pumpkin for a wild look.

Another way to improve this design is to incorporate actual wires into the design. Maybe you could recreate the sick pumpkin, but replace the pumpkin guts with wires. You could then intertwine these wires with long leaves like that of spider plants, to truly incorporate nature throughout the design.

6. Cat Bus and Totoro from ‘My Neighbour Totoro’

For a cuter option, the cat bus is a super memorable character and is ones of the easier cottagecore pumpkin carving ideas to recreate. Even better, the design can be minorly changed to make a Totoro pumpkin.

For the smile

Simply carve a bunch of rectangles next to each other, and vary the sizes so that the outline of these rectangles form a large smile. To make this easier, use a marker to outline the smile and crave the rectangles within those lines.

For the eyes

Try to carve a cats eye by carving two circles with vertical slits in the middle. If you want to make a Totoro pumpkin, then carve the pupils as circles. There are two ways to keep the pupils in the middle of the eyes. You can carve out the rest of the eyes instead of cutting straight through, leaving the pupil untouched for contrast. Another way is to use a toothpick through the eye to secure it to the rest of the pumpkin.

7. Sewn Up Pumpkin

This is less a design itself and more a cool thing you can do to spice up your other designs. It’s super easy to do using thread or by just carving them straight into the pumpkin!

Carving Method

This design is much easier and more durable than the other, but it also looks more fake than using thread. All you need to do it carve thin lines across the areas where you want the thread to appear. These will then show up in the dark and appear a thin lines across your design. resembling thread! For an added effect, you can do little criss-crosses or stitch designs to give a more realistic impression of thread.

Thread Method

Thread can be more difficult to use but is better for unique ideas which need a bit more dimension to really pop. All you need is an old needle you don’t mind breaking and some thread. You should also use a thimble since the hardness of the pumpkin will mean you need a lot of pressure on the needle to break through.

Then, just sew like normal, adding the thread details wherever you wish for your design. There is so much you could do, like sewing the moth or eyes shut, or sewing a nose back onto the pumpkin, Frankenstein style.

I hope you enjoyed this guide and decide to use some of these pumpkin carving ideas this Halloween! If you do, please let me know how it goes. For more cool Halloween guides, check out my Cottagecore Halloween Costumes or my Unique Halloween Decorations Guide. Happy Halloween!