Turn Dollar Tree Foam Pumpkins Into Candles With A Quick And Easy DIY

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Decorating with Dollar Tree foam pumpkins in the days leading up to Halloween and Thanksgiving is such a treat. These nearly perfect foam replicas of everyone's favorite fall gourds make it easy to dress up your front steps, tabletops, and window sills with lighted pumpkin candles — without all the pumpkin pulp mess. And because LED flicker candles are a thing now, you never need to worry that your fall pumpkin lanterns will create a fire hazard.

Fortunately, making the foam pumpkin candles is as easy as pumpkin pie — in fact, easier, we'd argue. To begin this stunning fall pumpkin display, select the Dollar Tree Seasonal Foam Pumpkins of your choice. They come in a couple of different colors and shapes, including green, white, and orange. If you're planning to make a full display that includes two or three pumpkins, you'll create more visual interest if you choose more than one pumpkin style to go into your arrangement. This is thanks to the contrast in colors and styles that'll come from mixing and matching the foam pumpkins.

To light the candles up, you'll need some Luminessence Flickering LED Tealights. The package comes with three tealights, so if you want to create more than three pumpkin candles, grab a second (or third) package of tealights to ensure that you have enough. The project also calls for a fine point or a ballpoint pen, a utility knife, and a round-tipped palette knife, like the Herain Painting Knife Set.

To add a little light to your Halloween pumpkin display, you'll need to do a little carving, just like you would with a real pumpkin. First, remove the stem from the foam replica to prep it. You should be able to just twist it off. Then, carve into the pumpkin to create a hole for the tealight. To do this, place one of the tealights on top where the stem used to be, and trace around its base with your pen. Next, carefully cut inside the round line that you've drawn with your utility knife. (The cut should be as deep as the tealight is tall.) After that, you'll remove the foamy "pulp" from inside the pumpkin using the round-tipped artist's palette knife. This should allow you to dig into the pumpkin without tearing it up. 

Once the contents of the hole are scraped out, drop the LED candle into the hole. Ideally, the top of the candle's rim shouldn't stick out over the top of the pumpkin. You want to create the impression that the wick has replaced the pumpkin's stem. If you're making more than one pumpkin, you have an opportunity to create a more asymmetrical display if you plan correctly. For example, you could arrange three larger pumpkins of the same hue offset by two smaller ones, or why not one tall and one short pumpkin?

Despite coming from a cheap store like Dollar Tree, these pumpkins are surprisingly pretty and elegant. However, you can amp up the sophistication of this display by gussying up the pumpkins a bit. The simplest way to do this is to paint them with acrylic paints. Logically, you could go the traditional route and try creative carving ideas for your Halloween pumpkins. If you do that, give each one its own Jack-o'-lantern face to keep things interesting.

Or, take a more artsy approach and paint patterns on the pumpkins, like checkerboard squares, stripes, or circles. Mixing patterns on your home decor will make everything look even more eye-catching. To that end, paint one side of a pumpkin with vertical stripes. Juxtapose those with some polka dots or horizontal stripes on the other side. You could also paint patterns on some of the ribbed sections of the pumpkins, and then paint some sections with a solid color. Use gold or silver metallic paint, or even gold leaf, to draw on leaves to give the pumpkins a more luxe color scheme. 

Finally, add to the pretty factor by creating a decorative bed for the pumpkins to sit on. Use something like alyptus Artificial Fall Leaves Garland in autumnal colors for this. Other autumn-themed items could be placed around the base of the pumpkin candle display, like acorns, pine cones, and more leaves to create a memorable centerpiece for your kitchen or coffee table. Then, finish it off with a few tealights in glass votives to add some variety.