E-Train Pumpkin Stencil

Halloween is just a few weeks away and that means it's time to hit the pumpkin patch and pick out the perfect pumpkin. We've helped you out a little bit and come up with the perfect thing to carve to express your love of baseball: the iconic E-Train!

Click here to download the stencil: Small, Medium, Large

Follow these step-by-step instructions to get a great looking design on your pumpkin just in time for the ghoulish holiday!

1. Purchase a pumpkin. We have three different sizes of the stencil available depending on if you get a big, medium or small pumpkin. We went with a medium one.

2. Gather your tools. Here's what you'll need, besides the pumpkin: the E-Train stencil printed out, a scraper to get out the "guts" of the pumpkin, a simple pumpkin carving tool and a pointed object. We used nails for the pointed object, but you can also use a push pin, toothpick, safety pin, etc. You just need something that will make small holes on the pumpkin. Please use caution when working with the pointed object. Kids, leave this up to an adult.

3. Tape your stencil to the pumpkin to hold it steady.

4. Using the pointed object, poke small holes around the outline of your stencil. This will create an outline for you to carve when you take off the printed stencil. (Note: just mark where the four bolts are located because you won't actually carve those out.)

5. This is where it starts to get messy. Cut a hole around the stem at the top and clean out all of the guts. A scraper tool comes in really handy here because the cleaner you get the inside now, the less you have to clean out at the end. (Don't forget you can save the pumpkin seeds for a fun snack! Here's a simple recipe to roast them.)

6. Once you've removed the guts, remove the stencil off the front of the pumpkin. You might want to have a pencil handy to "connect the dots." Also, keep your stencil handy as a reference to make sure you connect the right dots.

7. Time to carve! Using a carving tool, follow the outline of the dots and carve your pumpkin. We suggest starting with the four bolts which are actually just etched in the surface and not fully carved. Then carve out the six pillars at the bottom. Then move on to the outline of the E-Train. Remember to not carve all the way through the white spaces or else your entire design will fall through. You don't want all your hard work to go to waste, do you? When you're done, it should look something like this:

The lines don't have to be perfect and ours certainly weren't. Once you're done with the whole design and have removed the cutout pumpkin pieces the whole thing really comes together. Good luck and happy carving!

Bonus step: Get a tea light candle and drop it in the middle. Have an adult light the candle and enjoy your handiwork!