Love it or loathe it, it’s Halloween next Wednesday. 

If creepy costumes, spooky face masks and lots of fake blood aren’t your thing, perhaps the traditional pumpkin is a good place to start when it comes to alternative ways of involved in this annual celebration that don’t involve black lipstick and fangs.

There’s a thriving Cucurbita (that’s the Latin name given to the family of fruit to which the pumpkin belongs, by the way) subculture out there that we’re going to delve into today. Everyone enjoys taking a knife to a nice plump pumpkin (wait, did that sound too creepy?) and engraving into it some personal facial features…right?

So, to inspire you all to get creative this year, we’ve  put together a list of our top 5 pumpkin carvings:

1. Either awesome camera shutter speed or crafty use of glue…

2. Shrek-esque proportions

3. An endearing depiction of the beloved film, E.T.

4. Fed up.

5 . R2-D2

If that’s fired up your appetite for everything pumpkin, take a look at London Food Freak‘s roasted duck pumpkin puff experience courtesy of Yauatcha. It’s worth checking out The More Than Occasional Baker‘s tasty pumpkin chocolate chip bars too – yum! Similarly, get some of The Huffington Post‘s ‘Art inspired Pumpkin Carving Ideas‘ for more creative inspiration.

Finally, make sure you get down to Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly next Wednesday for their professional pumpkin carving event. There is also a carving competition which anyone can enter! The Handbook have all the details…