This past weekend I took the kids to the 10th Annual Ballard Park Pumpkin Tour here in Newport. It’s one of the most fun family events of the fall and draws a huge crowd every year to view thousands of pumpkins carved by local children and businesses all lit up along the park’s trails. While it’s really beautiful after the sun goes down, we went early this year because we had additional plans that evening. The unexpected benefit of that was that it wasn’t too crowded yet and allowed me to snap some photos of the pumpkins that really caught my eye which I now get to share with you! To start, how spectacular is this snake made of pumpkins!

I also loved this pumpkin that was painted in black glitter paint and had carved wolves and an etched out glowing moon.

And for the more peaceful set this VW bus pumpkin gave us a good laugh.

I love the way this pumpkin looks like a fish bowl. I bet it looked really cool all lit up!

And this elephant carving is just about as sweet as can be. I especially love how the carver took the spray across the pumpkin. It would be perfect for a little one’s first Halloween.

Who doesn’t love a Sesame Street reference–no matter how old you are? This Bert pumpkin just needs an Ernie to complete him.

And how about a spider pumpkin? Just a few pipe cleaners stuck into this little pumpkin turned it into a creepy crawly friend. If you used the black glitter paint from the wolf pumpkin above, that would really make him even more fun!

We’ve still got a few weeks to go before we can carve the pumpkins for Halloween, but I’ve got lots of new inspiration from our walk through the woods. What creative ways will you be carving your pumpkins this year?