These pumpkin heads are from the wrong side of the patch: Other gourds greet the world with toothy smiles and innocent triangle-shaped eyes, but this frightful bunch does its best to make passersby wish they had stayed home baking pie. If, however, you're the sort of person who likes to keep strange company, you'll be pleased how easy it is to create these gawking heads. Draw faces you like, or print our templates to make the ones shown here. Then carve the pumpkins as you would for normal, well-adjusted gourds. If neighbors talk, just lean out the window, bare your teeth, and waggle your eyebrows in an alarming manner.

Even though they're always disdainfully wrinkling their noses at you, this nosy family are smart to have around: They can smell danger from miles away. When carving, hollow them out from a hole in the bottom, and position their features on top so the stems can serve as noses.

You can use the general directions for all these projects, except the narrow butternut squash (separate instructions are below).

Tools and Materials
A keyhole saw or serrated knife
Plaster scraper or large spoon
Black marker and white paper or our template
Masking tape
Needle tool (from an art-supply store) or awl
Serrated utility knife
Miniature flashlights, battery-powered candles, or light sticks
-an apple corer

Face How-To
1. Begin by cutting a large hole in the bottom of a pumpkin with a keyhole saw or serrated knife, and then scrape out the insides with a plaster scraper until pumpkin walls are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. To make the face, you can draw your own using black marker on white paper, or download and print our templates; enlarge the template to the desired size on a photocopier. Next, affix the face to the pumpkin with masking tape.

2. With a needle tool or awl, poke holes around the outline of each feature. Remove the paper, and then cut out features with a serrated utility knife, using the holes you poked as a guide. To illuminate the carved pumpkins, use miniature flashlights, battery-powered candles, or light sticks.

Squash Face How-To
1. To hollow out a tall, skinny squash, scoop out the insides from the top and the bottom: Cut off the bottom with a keyhole saw, and use a plaster scraper to scoop out the wide bottom section until walls are 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Then cut off the top with the keyhole saw, and use an apple corer to remove the insides at that end. Carve features as you would for the other pumpkins; replace the top for display, if desired.