One of the most fun activities every Halloween is pumpkin carving and there are a lot of cool ideas to try but if you’d rather keep your beautiful pumpkins intact you could choose to paint them instead.

This is actually a great idea and a fun way to decorate and customize the pumpkins without doing any carving.

I know I’ll definitely try a unique pumpkin design this year, so let’s check out some ideas in case you’re feeling inspired too.

The Best Painting Design Ideas For A Fantastic Looking Pumpkin

1. Pumpkin Drip Painting

One idea comes from hillcitybride and suggests using the paint drip technique. You take a pumpkin, you wrap the tape around the stem, and then you spray paint the whole pumpkin in one solid color. You can also leave it how it is if you like its natural color. Then you take some acrylic paint and you pour at the top, just near the stem and you let it drip. You can layer more colors to create a marbled effect.

2. Adorable Pikachu Pumpkin Painting

If you’re a Pokemon fan or if you just think Pikachu looks cute, check out this fun pumpkin painting idea from happinessishomemade. For the Pikachu pumpkin, you’ll also need some yellow paper for the ears and tail, and for the Pokeball one, all you need is paint and some tape.

3. Paint A Matte Black Base

If you start by painting a pumpkin mat black, anything you paint on it after that will basically look cool and dramatic, even flowers or cute faces. check out doodlecraftblog for some ideas regarding some of the designs you can create using this technique.

4. Cool and Simple Rainbow Pumpkins

You don’t have to choose an intricate design or a very complicated pattern in order to make your painted pumpkin look cool and beautiful. In fact, some of the most beautiful designs are very simple, like the ones featured on tellloveandparty. These rainbow pumpkins are adorable and they’re easy to paint too.

5. Glittery Space Style

Another idea that’s super cool and inspiring is to paint starts and galaxies on your pumpkin. It’s not as easy as making a rainbow pumpkin, but if you can pull this off, it’s definitely worth the effort. Here what you’re going to need: black acrylic paint, white acrylic paint, glitter, nail polish in different colors, stars, small fake diamonds, brushes, sponges, and decoupage glue. Find out the details on 42stripes.

6. Flowery Fun

You don’t have to be a talented artist to paint a pumpkin and to make it look pretty. Just use your strengths. Flowers are something that pretty much anyone can draw or paint in a satisfactory manner so how about a floral pumpkin with a fall-themed look? That’s just what lindseycrafterblog prescribes for this Halloween.

7. Use The Shaking Paint Technique

This cool pumpkin was painted using the shake technique. In case you don’t know what that means we’ll explain it right now. You take a container big enough for the pumpkin to fit with some room to spare, you pout some acrylic paint in at the bottom of the container in small pools (different colors) and then you put the pumpkin in, you close the lid and you shake. It’s fun and it’s pretty at the same time. This idea comes from sunnydayfamily.

8. Fall Gingham Style

Aren’t these gingham pumpkins adorable? They bring out the cozy nature of fall and everything related to this season. You can paint a gingham pattern on a pumpkin without much effort and without needing a stencil. The instructions can be found on kellyinthecity. You start with a white pumpkin and you paint every other slice using colored acrylic paint, then you fill in patches on the white slices to create alternating squares. Then you paint a few darker-colored squares on the already painted slices to create the checkered pattern.

9. Rainbow Crayon Melt Pumpkins

Did you know you can use crayons instead of paint to decorate a pumpkin? The idea is not to draw on the pumpkin but to melt the crayons. Sure, it sounds a bit cruel but the result is super cool. Check out craftymorning to see for yourself. To replicate this look, start with a plain white pumpkin. Unwrap the crayons, cut them in half, and glue the pieces onto the pumpkin, at the top. When the glue has dried, start melting the crayons with a blow dryer.

10. Glow In The Dark Paint Job

Since the Halloween fun starts after sunset, we thought you’d like these glow-in-the-dark pumpkins that we found on lovetocreateblog. You can paint them using the technique you want. The only mandatory thing is to use glow-in-the-dark paint. You can paint geometric patterns, polka dots, pretty flowers, or spooky faces…basically whatever you think would look cool.

11. Stencil Animal Patterns Onto Your Pumpkin

You can also have a lot of fun painting pumpkins if you use cardboard stencils to create silhouettes over your already painted, patterned pumpkin. First, you can paint some polka dots on your pumpkin, let the paint dry and then you can cut out a cardboard stencil and paint a cute silhouette using paint in a different color. Check out how great these dinosaur pumpkins featured on rachelmarpeace look.

12. Opt For A Pretty Design

Another idea can be to explore your artistic side and to paint something pretty on the pumpkin as opposed to something spooky or graphical. You could make a floral pumpkin like the one featured on craftberrybush. It would look lovely in your living room, bedroom, or dining room and you can use it as a centerpiece or a shelf ornament.

13. Neon Paint Drip Pumpkins

Paint-dipped pumpkins can look super cool, especially if you use neon colors. The technique is very simple. First, you spray paint the entire pumpkin white (or not, if you like its natural look), then you flip it upside down (you can rest it on a jar, a vase, or pretty much any container, and you put a nice layer of neon paint on its bottom, letting it drip over the sides. When the paint is dry you’ll have your pumpkin ornaments. You can find more details about this on anightowlblog.

14. Classy Solid Colored Pumpkin

A simple pumpkin can look pretty and stylish too. You can paint one in a teal or turquoise color and display it on your porch next to some other Halloween ornaments. Sure, you could put some stickers on or paint an interesting pattern on the pumpkin but we really like the simplicity of this design so perhaps you will too. The inspiration for this project comes from practicallyfunctional.

15. Create Patterned Pumpkins With Stencils

We mentioned stencils before and now we’d like to emphasize just how great and useful they can be when you’re painting a pumpkin. You can use all sorts of stencils with all sorts of different designs, shapes, and sizes. You can mix and match different forms and different colors to create interesting and unique designs. Check out handmadecharlotte for inspiration.

16. Gorgeous Nail Polish Dip

There’s also another cool idea that we’d like to share with you today. It involves nail polish and the technique is easy and fun. You take a bowl (a disposable one would be best) and you fill it with lukewarm water. Then you pour a few colors of nail polish in, you swirl a little with a stick and then you dip small pumpkins into the colored water and you let them rest so the nail polish can dry. We found this technique described on sayyes and we immediately fell in love with the idea.

17. Repurpose Mini Painted Pumpkins As DIY Projects

Miniature pumpkins are a lot of fun to use in DIY projects and these ones look absolutely adorable. They were turned into little photo holders and can also be used as place card holders. There’s a tutorial for them on clubcrafted and in case you want to make something here’s what you’re going to need: mini faux pumpkins, acrylic paint in different colors, paintbrushes for each color, thick gold wire, wire cutters, and round nose pliers.

18. Embrace Metallic Paint

If you want to decorate a pumpkin in a way that’s simple but also chic and stylish, the idea suggested on sustainmycrafthabit would be perfect. This project starts with a white craft pumpkin. This one is quite large but you can use a smaller one instead of you prefer it. All you need to do is use a fine tip paintbrush and some acrylic matte metallic gold paint to add a few leaves in various places.

19. Create A Disco Pumpkin

In case it’s not immediately apparent, this is a disco ball pumpkin. The design is not particularly difficult and you don’t need a lot of supplies to get this done, just this black paint, silver glitter paint, thin washi tape, and of course a faux pumpkin. You can have fun experimenting with all sorts of other patterns and designs while you’re at it. Check out the tutorial on clubcrafted.

20. Mini Painted Pumpkin Combination

There’s really no need for a complicated design or a pattern to make pumpkins look cool. Paint is pretty much all you need. A nice idea can be to take a few small faux pumpkins of different shapes and similar sizes and paint them in different colors. You can mix in some black, white with some gold or copper paint and create a very stylish combo. The inspiration comes from bybrittanygoldwyn.

21. Eye Catching Plaid Paint Design

Aren’t these pumpkins looking super fun and cheerful? The vibrant colors really pop and the gingham pattern goes really well with the design as a whole. To recreate this look, start with a faux pumpkin and paint it white. Then use two tones of acrylic paint and a bunch of painter’s tape to create the pattern by following the instructions provided on clubcrafted. Have fun mixing and matching more colors and making more pumpkins after that.

22. Pumpkins Goemetric Style

Speaking of patterns and pumpkins, it’s not just the classic ones that can look good. A nice idea can be to come up with your own geometric pattern and to create custom designs for your decorative pumpkins using acrylic craft paints and tape if needed. You can find a few inspiring ideas on akailochiclife if you’re interested.

23. Unique Terrazzo Pumpkin

This is a terrazzo pumpkin, and unlike a lot of the other projects, this one uses a real pumpkin instead of a faux one. That means the first step of the project is to carve out the pumpkin, then cut off the top, and then you will need to remove everything inside so you can have a clean surface to work with. Once that is done you can go ahead and make your template using stencil paper. Carve out some of the shapes and paint the others. For more information visit jojotastic.

24. Chic Neutral Pumpkins

This design is a bit similar to something we mentioned before but what we really like in this particular case is the choice of colors. They’re very simple and neutral and they don’t stand out which puts more emphasis on the actual pattern and the pumpkin itself. Of course, you can choose to use a different color palette instead. Regardless, all you need to know about this project can be found on theredpaintedcottage.

25. Water Color Pumpkin Design

For this little project, you can either use a real pumpkin or a faux one. The advantage of faux pumpkins is that they don’t go bad and you can keep them until next year when you can display them once again in your home. Either way, you’ll need a mini pumpkin which you’ll have to paint white so you have a clean base to work with. Then take a paintbrush and a set of watercolor paints and start painting cute little flowers and leaves all over the surface. There’s a more detailed description of the project on smilingcolors in case you want to check it out.

26. Frozen Themed Pumpkin

Have a little one who is obsessed with the Disney movie Frozen? Then they will absolutely love making this Elsa Pumpkin as outlined in A Pumpkin And A Princess. Start with a faux white pumpkin, and spray paint it with glittery blue spray paint. Then you can let your child glue gems and cute snowflakes to the surface. Alternatively, you can also use snowflake stencils and silver paint to make the glittery snowflake designs.

27. Super Hero Pumpkins

Of course, not all children are into Frozen, but this idea by Delicious By Dre, of painting your child’s favorite superhero logo, is another great pumpkin design. For this project, you can choose to use either faux or real pumpkins. Just keep in mind that it may be difficult for your child to part with their superhero pumpkin when it rots at the end of the season.

After you clean the pumpkin and acquire paints, you can google a stencil logo of your favorite superhero, and use a sharpie to draw it on the surface of the pumpkin. After that, you or your child can fill it in with the proper paint colors for a pumpkin that will be capable of saving the world!

28. Unique Pineapple Pumpkin

Maybe you’ve picked up one of those annoyingly tall and skinny pumpkins that doesn’t always work for a number of the other pumpkin designs on this list. Well here is a design idea just for that unique pumpkin—make it a pineapple! You’ll just need some yellow paint, cardstock, glue, and some sunglasses and you are in business! You can find the full instructions on Studio DIY.

29. Monogrammed Glitter Pumpkins

This adorable pumpkin design by Handmade In The Heartland will look perfect on your front porch or even as a centerpiece for the dinner table. Just be aware that it does involve some engraving skill, which may not be the best idea for smaller children. In this example, orange glitter paint is used, but you can use any color of glitter you desire. You can also consider changing the base color of the pumpkin so both colors will seamlessly match the décor of your home!

30. In-Style Ombre Pumpkin

Ombre paint schemes are all the rage, so why not design your pumpkin with one? This project featured in Sarah Hearts, is simple to make and can be done on real or faux pumpkins depending on your preference. If you decide to use a real pumpkin, you’ll need to paint it white before you start. Then you will just need three different colors of paint in similar shades to create the ombre look!

31. Finger Painted Pumpkin

This is the perfect simple pumpkin painting project for young children, and it is much easier than actually carving the pumpkin with a young child in the house. You will just need a pumpkin, and finger paints in your child’s favorite color. You can follow this idea in Young House Love, and place tape on the pumpkin first, and peel it away when your child is done painting to leave a cool design or traditional pumpkin face.

32. Black And White Color Scheme

Black and white paired together always look classy in a room, thus there’s no reason not to put these colors on your pumpkin! You can do a simple pattern, or get a little crazy and do one of these fun pumpkin designs featured on Country Living. And don’t be afraid to reverse the project and paint your pumpkin all black with a white design!

33. Gold Accented Water Colors

If you liked the watercolor design idea above but wanted to make a classier design, check out this painted pumpkin by Nest of Posies. You will use the watercolor painting steps to first paint your pumpkin a solid color, then you will take glue and glitter to glitter-if the stem! Having glitter in your house can be a hassle though, so don’t be afraid to try a glitter spray paint for the stem instead!

34. Funny Face Pumpkin Family

This is the perfect pumpkin paint design project if you don’t want to waste time painting the base—because the orange of the pumpkin will work great as is! You will need to acquire some white, black, and red acrylic paints, and a picture like this one on Educational Factory for you, or your kids, to copy! This project is so easy you’ll have a large pumpkin family smiling on your porch in no time.

35. Hilarious Pun-Kins

These adorable painted pumpkins by Studio DIY are a spectacular way to add a little humor to your porch! You’ll have people laughing as they come to visit your porch all evening long. You’ll start this project by painting your pumpkin all one color, note that pastels work best and after you can use a letter stencil and some black paint to add your desired phrase to your pumpkin. Just don’t forget to check your spelling before you start!

Conclusion

Whether you dip, glitter paint, or watercolor yourpumpkin design this year, you’ll surely have a project that you won’t want to part with at the end of this Halloween season! And depending on the theme of the project you choose; you can create pumpkins that will certainly spice up every corner of your home for as long as the fall months last.