Friday 26th October 2018 – Day 26 of Blogtober

When I think about it, Alex and I have a lot of traditions that we do year in year out. Pumpkin carving is one of them.

Every year, we choose a couple of pumpkins, stock up on equipment and carve our pumpkins. I won’t lie, there usually is some healthy competition. It usually ends with me giving up halfway through when Alex’s is becoming a lot better than mine, my arm gets tired and I’ve got bored of it. Hey, who am I to ruin tradition?!

Our first Halloween, we spent it in Spain together, so that’s where it all stemmed from. Something out of the ordinary of beach and pool every day, we saw the piles of pumpkins stacked at Mercadona. That’s where the tradition began.

The first year, we carved pumpkins we gave them some cool names. I mean, Señor Miedo & Victor Montgomery. Mine is clearly much better, Mr Fear. Is there anything more Halloweenesque than that? Though, I do think I am much scarier than the pumpkin. I clearly love Halloween.

When we decided to spend future Halloween’s in Spain, I didn’t doubt for a second that we’d be able to carry on the tradition because it was born here. 

I love that we’re able to pick up pumpkins and carve them into different sculptures. I love the planning process on Pinterest, even though I know full well I don’t have the artistic skill, or patience, to carry it out.

The smell of pumpkins alight during the evening just screams Halloween. The sweet but spicy aroma is the epitome of the Autumnal festival. I love dimming the lights and having the happy little calabaza light up the room. I say happy because mine is usually not scary in the slightest.

This year, we got our pumpkins from Mercadona again. They came into shops on October 3rd along with the Halloween novelty sweets. We like to pick up a few and save them for when my little brother comes over. It’s also a nice excuse to have some extra goodies in the house.

Mercadona tend to have some really nice novelty Halloween treats, usually, they have some really cute pumpkins and ghosts metal tinned treats.

This year is a first! I didn’t get disinterested and finished my own! Can you guess which pumpkin is mine and which pumpkin is Alex’s? They look pretty effective next to our Halloween decorations. Which are there for absolutely no reason just an excuse to trim up differently!

I also made pumpkin loaf out of the insides which was nice to be able to use the parts that most people waste. I’m not as keen on pumpkin loaf as I am banana loaf, but it was very warming and very autumnal!

So, if you’re here for Halloween and looking for something a little different to do. Head to Mercadona and pick up a pumpkin then nip over to a hypermarket for some carving equipment and get stuck in with some Halloween traditions.

Do you carve pumpkins for Halloween?

Hasta luego,

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