Probably the next most important thing after making a really cool costume to wear for trick-or-treating is carving the most excellent pumpkin.

The first thing you have to do is go to the great pumpkin patch and select the very best pumpkin that ever existed since the beginning of time!

That was the easy part. Now comes the hard part --- waiting until just before Halloween to actually carve that artfully awesome visage in your succulent squash!
If you carve it too early, the pumpkin will start to dry and curl in on itself like your great-great-great grandfather when he lost his teeth... but, for Halloween, this could be a good thing, too! You never know.

The first thing you may want to do is make a few drawings on paper of the face you want your pumpkin to have.

Next, you will probably want to draw that face right on the pumpkin itself before you start carving. Some people like to carve their pumpkins "on the fly", without any drawings at all... but you never know just what you'll end up with. If you do like to work like this, carve the nose first. It will help you center the face as you carve.

Some of the world's finer artists require a live model for their sketches, but a talented model isn't always that easy to find.

Now, you are ready for the good part... and probably the hard part: actually carving that ghoulish grimace on your pumpkin. The tools you will need are simple: a pointed short knife to cut with (duh!) a big spoon to scoop out the pumpkin's slimey guts a newspaper to make your mess on (or to read if you get bored) comics work best.

Note: There are pumpkin carving kits that come with small safety knives. They are available in most Supermarkets or toy stores. They are made especially for the great combination of Kids and Halloween. If you can't find these, here are a few safety tips if you decide to use the tools we show which are probably already in your home:

Always have an adult with you when handling knives and other possibly dangerous tools.

Cut by sticking the knife straight in and out of the pumpkin, like you are cutting a dotted line.	Never cut by pushing down on the knife, (like when you slice bread).	If you need to lengthen a cut a little, make it by gently rocking the knife. Straight in and out is still the safest.

Start by cutting out the lid. Angle your cut toward the center of the pumpkin so the lid won't fall in when you put it back on later.

Next, scoop out those lovely slimey pumpkin guts. The roasted seeds, lightly saltled, make an excellent snack. To seperate the seeds from the stringy stuff, put all your glop in a bowl of cool water and squish it around through your fingers (mmmmm mmmm!). The seeds will float to the top where you can scoop them out into a frying pan or an oven roasting pan.