Keep Your Pumpkin Looking Fresh With These Tips

Halloween is less than a week away now.  If by chance you've already carved your pumpkin, will it make it to Halloween night?   Try these tips to keep it looking fresh.

We've all been there.  It's early in October and they start putting out pumpkins.  You know that it's a long time from now until Halloween, but you're in the spirit and you want to carve pumpkins like...now.

You buy them.  The second week of October you carve them.  By Halloween that scary jack-o-lantern looks more like an old person in a nursing home.  It's shriveled and looks like it has no teeth.  Even better, it's getting moldy and looks like it's melting.

How do you keep it from happening?  Here are a couple tips to help you out.

1.  Don't carve it at all.  That's the best way to keep it from falling apart early.  You can paint it or draw on it with markers...(But we all know you want to carve it...so let's move on to #2)

2.  Make sure you clean it out thoroughly.  The wet guts are what cause it to get moldy fast.  So pull all that stuff out and then pat it down with a towel to make sure it isn't damp.

3.  Store it in the fridge.  Just like food, it will spoil when it's outside.  Keeping it in the fridge every night will help to keep it fresher.  (I know...no one puts their pumpkin in the fridge...but if you want to keep it from molding...)

4.  They say putting petroleum jelly or vegetable oil will help.  Put it on the areas that you carved.  But remember...those things are flammable!  So if you do that, don't put a candle in there.  Make it a battery powered light instead.

5.  Spray it with water and a little bleach.  This will rehydrate the pumpkin and keep it fresh a little longer.  Woman's Day says that you should, "Submerge your creation in a bucket filled with water and 2/3 cup of bleach. Leave the pumpkin there to soak for up to 24 hours."