10 Best Fall Pumpkin Ideas

Decorating with fall pumpkins is a ritual this time of year! Here are some fun and pretty ways to use pumpkins to add to your fall home decor.

Fall just would not be the same without pumpkins. Glorious fall pumpkins in all shapes and sizes! White pumpkins, faux pumpkins, mini pumpkins, orange pumpkins, carved pumpkins, a stack of pumpkins, glitter pumpkins, and even gourds!

Let’s celebrate fall by decorating with pumpkins! Here are 10 best fall pumpkin ideas.

GROUP MINI PUMPKINS

I love pumpkins in all shapes and sizes! But I must admit I have a special place in my heart for white mini pumpkins. Grouped together they make the prettiest fall decorations!

Arrange mini pumpkins in a dough bowl or on a tray or even on a kitchen platter. Then add leaves and little bits of harvest organics, like acorns, to the arrangement. In the image above I also tucked wood block carving stamps around the fall pumpkins. Such a simple and pretty fall pumkin idea!

Use this formula or recipe for making all kinds of pretty pumpkin centerpieces.

MAKE FALL PUMPKIN CANDLES

Let’s use the same tray and the same mini white pumpkins and make them into sweet candles! This DIY project is so so simple and quite impressive! Carve pumpkin tops off these little pumpkins and carve out just enough of the center of them to drop in small votives.

You can create just one pumpkin candle or as many as you want in an arrangement.

I carve out pumpkin candles this every year! Use white pumpkins like I did here or use another favorite pumpkin or gourd. See the PUMPKIN CANDLE DIY HERE.

This is one of my favorite carve pumpkin ideas!

Wouldn’t these look so pretty on a fall tablescape?

USE PUMPKINS IN THREES

Three is a magic number for decorating with anything! Try lining up three pumpkins on a mantel or console table or any flat surface in your home.

This is such a super easy way to add pumpkins to your fall home! Sometimes the best pumpkin to use on furniture may be a faux pumpkin. You don’t have to worry about them getting soft or weepy and making big spots on your furniture!

Make sure you check out EASY FALL MANTEL IDEAS. This is a huge post about how to start with a default mantel and tweak it a bit so it becomes the prettiest fall mantel.

I love the look of three pumpkins in a row!

ADD REAL PUMPKIN STEMS TO FAUX PUMPKINS

This is my personal favorite fall pumpkin decorating idea!

I’ve been talking about adding real pumpkin stems to faux pumpkins in my posts for years! This is one thing that makes a faux pumpkin look so real! Or at least not so fake.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this but it was an original idea for me!

What a super easy way to make your fall pumpkin decor more realistic! And this is such an easy craft!

At the end of the pumpkin decorating season make sure to save your real pumpkins and remove their stems.

Depending on how long you have had your pumpkins and what type they are you should easily be able to snap the pumpkin stem away from the pumpkin at its base.

HOW TO POP THE STEMS OFF A PUMPKIN

Here’s an easy trick to pop the pumpkin stem right off the pumpkin…

Put your thumb at the base of the pumpkin stem where it meets the flesh of the pumpkin and push it over. If the pumpkin is old enough, a good deal of force will pop it off.

If the stem does not come off you have two other options. Leave the pumpkin outside until it gets a bit soft and then pop off the stem using the technique above. Or cut the pumpkin stem away from the pumpkin, cutting the pumpkin stem core out from the flesh of the pumpkin.

DRYING THE PUMPKIN STEMS

It’s important to dry the stems so no mold grows on them. But once they are dry you can add them to a faux pumpkin.

To do this pull the faux stem off the pumpkin with your fingers or a pair of pliers. Or if the pumpkin and the stem are all one piece, cut the stem off. Don’t cut the stem out of the pumkin but cut it horizontally as close the it’s base as you can.

Then hot glue the real stem to the faux pumpkin! I think faux baby boo pumpkins look so pretty with a thin checked ribbon tied around their new real stems!

If you have lots of orange faux pumpkins kicking around your home and would like to paint them white here’s an oldie but goodie post about how to paint them with chalk paint to give the a realistic look.

Check out the post HERE.

You can also spray paint pumpkins or paint them with acrylic paint for a pretty look.

SUCCULENT TOPPED PUMPKINS

This is one of my favorite ways to decorate with pumpkins! Top real little baby boo fall pumpkins with little succulent clippings.

Just darling!

Even if you are not crafty you can easily create mini white pumpkin topped with baby succulents!

These sweet pumpkins look so pretty on a fall table! And they make lovely gifts for any guests to take home!

See how to make SUCCULENT TOPPED MINI PUMPKINS HERE.

You can see how I used succulent topped pumpkins on a thanksgiving table HERE.

ELEVATE A PUMPKIN

Think a little bit outside the box when decorating with pumpkins no matter the color, size or shape.

To call attention to fall pumpkins put then on a pedestal, cake plate or a riser of books. Elevating them gives them importance and pressence!

This is such an easy idea and really makes a pumpkin the star of your decor!

Also think about putting real or faux pumpkins in a cloche and making it part of a vignette looks so amazing. Especially if the cloche is put on top of a cake stand.

Here are a few other ideas for elevating pumpkins to make them the star of your decor…

• put pumpkins on the stack of books
• wood rounds make wonderful risers for pumpkins
• a pumpkin looks great on a stack of dishes
• add a little pumpkin to a candlestick
• set a pumpkin on a small cake pedestal
• stack small breadboards and add a pumpkin on top

STACK PUMPKINS

Stacked pumpkins create such synergistic beauty! And there is no doubt they will get the attention they deserve!

This not a new idea but it is still very popular because it is a show stopper!

Choose pumpkins that are fatter and flatter than they are tall and stack them from the biggest on the bottom to the smallest on the top!

Stacked pumpkins look pretty in a all white vignette or outside on a front porch!

You might like to read THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR STLING FALL CENTERPIECES.

COVER FAUX FALL PUMPKINS WITH A COCKTAIL NAPKINS

Oh, this is addictive and transforms a plain white pumpkin to rockstar status! And the best part of this fall pumpkin ideas is that this pumpkin diy is so so easy to do!

All you need to make these gorgeous pumpkins is…

• a faux white pumpkin
• mod podge
• cocktail napkins
• foam paintbrush

Here’s how my blue and white chinoiserie pumpkins looked in a centerpiece with velvet pumpkins.

You can see how to make these simple and oh so pretty CHINOISERIE PUMPKINS here.

And here’s another, bigger pumpkin I covered using cocktail napkins too!

See how to make this big TORN TISSUE PUMPKIN here.

ADD LITTLE FALL PUMPKINS ABOVE YOUR FRONT DOOR

I have been putting little pumpkins above the transom over my front doors for decades! It’s just a part of fall! I remember when Bobby and I were first married adding pumpkins above the door of our first home what was 100 years old!

And don’t you love the little details in life and decorating. Such nice surprises!

You can see more fall porch and patio ideas and ways to use pumpkin outside HERE.

MORE IDEAS FOR USING PUMPKINS IN YOUR FALL DECOR

Here are a few more ideas for using pumpkin in and outside of your home!

• paint or stencil easy motifs on pumpkins – See HOW TO PAINT EASY PATTERNS ON PUMPKINS
• GILD PUMPKINS, they look stunning!
• carve or paint a jack-o-lantern on a fall pumpkin
• wash and dry pumpkins before using them so they last longer- See 8 TIPS FOR KEEPING PUMPKINS FRESH
• if you like halloween decorations make a mummy pumpkin by wrapping it in guaze and adding googly eyes and spiders
• cut off the top of a faux or real pumpkin and make the pumpkin into a vase for flowers or other fall organics
• paint your monogram letter on a large pumpkin
• make a confetti pumpkin by gluing gems or tissue paper rounds to a white faux pumpkin starting at the top of the pumpkin
• mod podge fall leaves to the top of white pumpkins
• buy a big white pumpkin and have friends and family write something on it, with a marker, when they come to visit. Keep it all fall and just keep adding to it as people visit.

I hope you are taking away lots of fall pumpkin inspiration. Happy pumpkin decorating!