Amazing Pumpkin Painting Ideas & Other No Carve Pumpkin Decorating Ideas (2024)

If you plan to make a no carve Halloween pumpkin this year, you’ll love these unique pumpkin painting ideas – from the roaring dinosaur pumpkin to simple emoji pumpkins. Many cute ideas as well as scary ones!

Browse through these pumpkin decorating ideas and we are sure you won’t be able to pick just one to make this year.

*this post contains affiliate links*

Decorating pumpkins is one of the most fun things about Halloween. While classic carved pumpkins look great, especially when a candle is lit in them, no-carve pumpkins are becoming more and more popular. Why? They are easy to make and leave a lot of room for creativity.

You can either use a real pumpkin or a craft pumpkin to make it (real ones are great but craft ones you can reuse the next year and build upon your collection of painted pumpkins)

We are sharing a collection of no-carve and pumpkin painting ideas, to kick-start your creativity as there are a million ways you can go about decorating them.

Tip:how to paint a pumpkin –what kind of paint to use on pumpkins?

If you need to cover the whole pumpkin with paint – spray paint will do the job, as well as craft paints.

Smaller areas are best painted with acrylic craft paints. This type of color won’t wash out in the rain if you plan to showcase your painted pumpkins outside.

Pumpkin Painting Ideas

Scarecrow Pumpkin

As fall is the time of scarecrows, this one seems like a natural fit. You don’t need to paint the whole pumpkin.

The hair can be made of felt or tissue paper (napkins :)), paint the face, or use felt. Last but not least, find an old straw hat, decorate it with a leaf or a sunflower and the pumpkin is ready for display.

T- rex Dinosaur Pumpkin Decorating Idea

This hatching tyrannosaur dino egg pumpkin is one clever idea! If you’ve got an old dinosaur toy lying around and no idea what to do with it – this is the thing to make. Made by Tifanie Leckemby

DIY Unicorn Pumpkin

Unicorns have been extremely popular lately and this goes to pumpkin decorating as well. There are many ways you can go about decorating them – we painted the pumpkin white, added pink cheeks, and closed eyes (with eyelashes naturally).

The mane is made with tissue paper and the horn and ears from and old Halloween unicorn costume hair hoop. Add floral details to make things even more magical.

Rainbow Fish Pumpkin Decorating Idea

From the first time I have read The Rainbow Fish and till this day, this has been my favoite childhood book. Like the book, this decorated pumpkin looks magical. The shiny and sparky scales are mesmerizing aren’t they. Made by Molly Reed.

Witch Pumpkin Decorating Idea

Make a fun looking wicked witch! To make this witch, we painted the pumpkin green and let the paint dry completely. The hair is made out of tissue paper (napkins), felt would be great too. If you’ll be displaying the pumpkin inside, you can make the hat out of paper, if not, we recommend a store bought hat (or a hat made out of fabric). We used a green pom pom for the nose, which, if you ask us,makes all the difference with this pumpkin painting idea.

Cactus Pumpkin

This one is a simple and fun one that requires a quick shop to a dollar-like store, grab a cheap basket if you don’t have one at home, green paint, fake flowers (we used a lei/flower necklace) and white pom poms.

Paint the pumpkin with green acrylic paint. Let the paint dry. Glue on white pom poms to serve as spikes. Attach the flowers on top and place your cactus pumpkin in the basket.

Bat Pumpkin

Paint the pumpkin bat and add details. If this one will be displayed at inside, you can make the wings and ears from paper. For outside display, it’s best to use black craft foam.

Pastel Stripes

If you want something simple that looks oh so gorgeous, make pastel-painted pumpkins. You will need two (or three) paints per pumpkin.

Go with one stronger color and a more pastel shade of the same color family. Follow the ribs on the pumpkin as a guide or freehand the stripes.

Pikachu Pumpkin

If you have a Pokemon lover at home, why not make a few this Halloween? You won’t be able to catch them all (or will you?) but making a few will certainly be fun. For Pikachu, paint the pumpkin with yellow acrylic paint or spray paint it yellow. For an indoor pumpkin you can use construction paper to add the details (and hot glue gun to attach them).

Black and White Painted No Carve Pumpkin

If you want to add a dash of elegance to your porch or home this Halloween you can go with a black and white painted one.

You will need a good-quality white paint for this one (it shouldn’t be translucent and not watery) in order for it to look nice on top of white paint. If your white paint isn’t the best, you will need to apply more than one layer (you can also switch the paints, having the white base and adding black details). If you will have your pumpkin indoors, you can also paint it with black paint and use a white chalk marker.

Lion Decorating Idea

Lion is another easy idea, you can either go with the natural color or paint the pumpkin yellow. The mane is made with tissue paper or felt and the ears are made with felt too.

The friendly clown pumpkin painting idea

Clowns are peculiar characters – you can make a very cute one or a thing of nightmares. And it’s pretty easy to make it a thing of nightmares. We think sleepy closed eyes with eyelashes are the safest bet when it comes to making your clown cute and friendly.

Emoji Pumpkin Decoration

Everybody loves emoji! Why not make your favorite one as a Halloween pumpkin this year? We chose the heart eyes emoji, but any one of them would look insanely cute. Only paint is required to make this one so it’s one of the best pumpkin painting ideas.

Fox Pumpkin Decorating Idea

One of the most adorable no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas if you as us! Make the face, ears and the tail with felt to make it a bit fuzzy. Such a great non scary project for kids to make.

Donut Pumpkin

Paint the whole pumpkin pink or go more detailed and paint just the top half pink to achieve a true donut look. Paint on sprinkles in different colors.

Chicken Idea

If you made a fox, why not also make the chicken?

Mummy

Have old bandages and are looking for a clever way to upcycle them? Make a mummy! This one is perfect for Halloween.

Polka Dots

Polka dots are another easy idea to for making an eye-catching no-carve pumpkin. You can leave the pumpkin as is (natural) or you can paint it with a coat of paint (or more colors). Paint dots in any color you like (the best tool to use is the round sponge brush you can find at kids’ crafts sections in craft stores).

Frankenstein’s Monster

Another idea for a Halloween monster. Paint the pumpkin green and wait for the paint to dry. Once dry, continue with the black paint for the hair, eyes and other details for Frankenstein’s monster.

Ninja Turtle

Paint the pumpkin green. Paint the white for the eyes. Cut a strip of orange, purple, red or blue fabric and also cut holes for the eyes. Attach the fabric to the pumpkin. Paint the black for the eyes.

Fairy House

Have fun creating amazing pumpkin designs!