Here are 11 pumpkin-pie-inspired ideas you can bake or make!
Eat+Drink
Pumpkin Pie – First, a classic. You can make pumpkin puree for pies and other recipes from a sugar pumpkin or even a regular carving pumpkin. (Really! I did it!)
Holiday Spice Mix – Blend these ingredients for a versatile, cinnamony spice you can use as pumpkin pie spice or sprinkle into hot chocolate.
Spiced Pumpkin Pie Martini – A pumpkin pie garnish on your cocktail?! Why not? After all, it is the holidays.
Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread – You can use canned pumpkin or your own pumpkin puree for this addictively good quick bread.
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie – This is a great breakfast on-the-go – especially during the holiday season when you have a lot of pumpkin around and not a lot of time. I added pecans and an extra cup of plain Greek yogurt to Jamie’s recipe.
Pie Slice Cookies – I haven’t made these, but they were so adorable that I had to include them! (If you’re looking for cookie decorating ideas and tips, there are TONS on the Sweet Sugarbelle blog!)
Fall Succulent Planter – Rachel of Maison de Pax planted succulents directly into ceramic pumpkins. Another option would be to place potted succulents inside a real (or ceramic or foam) pumpkin and take them out when you take down the autumn decor.
Pumpkin Pie Friendship Necklaces – StudioDIY shared a tutorial for this making polymer clay pumpkin pie necklaces as part of a Friendsgiving post!
Mini Pumpkin Candles – A simple project from Faith Durant at The Kichn that turns a pumpkin into a candle.
Botanical Pumpkins – Fall leaves and Modge Podge are a striking way to decorate pumpkins!
Decorating sugar skulls at CraftHack this time last year prompted me to learn more about Día de los Muertos and the handmade elements of this tradition.
Community altar in Tucson.
“Day of the Dead, or Día de los muertos, is a time for commemorating the dead, celebrating with family— both living and dead—and appreciating the cycle of life and death.”
When you lose someone you love, they don’t stop being part of your life. They remain in your heart and your memories. There’s something beautiful about recognizing and honoring this presence.
A Day of the Dead Altar via Elba Valverde.
La Ofrenda / Altar
One way to do this is by making a small altar (ofrenda) for the October 31 – November 2 celebration.
“Making a Day of the Dead Altar is about memories and traditions and the most important part is that you enjoy the process … add [your] own special touches … add the four elements, water, wind, earth and fire in some way, the picture of your beloved one, food, flowers and candles.”
Colorfully decorated sugar skulls are probably the most iconic element in Day of the Dead celebrations. You can purchase blank sugar skulls that are ready for you to personalize. Or you can use a mold to make your own from sugar, white chocolate, or (if you’re not going to eat them) plaster of Paris!
Plaster of Paris Sugar Skulls via Kathy Cano-Murillo.
When we did them at CraftHack, our friend Shanlyn led the demonstration. She brought in plain white sugar skulls she had made at home and showed us how to decorate them with frosting, sprinkles, and sanding sugar.
Shanlyn’s sugar skull demo at CraftHack.
I covered mine in slightly sparkly black sugar to give it a different look. Then I added flower sprinkles on top to give it a Frida Kahlo-esque headpiece. It didn’t come out perfectly, but it I had fun trying it out!
Sugar Skulls in Other Craft Projects
The sugar skull motif pops up all over the place – especially this time of year! A few crafty examples…
Via Berene Campbell.
Embroidery – Berene Campbell (Happy Sew Lucky) created this cute pattern that features a sugar skull with scissors behind it, like a crafters’ pirate flag!
Via Elba Valverde.
Cupcake toppers – This design is one of the free printables Elba Valverde offers on her site, Live Colorful!
Day of the Dead Planters – Regina Lord painted terra cotta pots to look like sugar skulls and then planted succulents in them. The tutorial is at Creative Kismet.
2. Paper (napkin) flowers – Using paper napkins in place of tissue paper will help the flowers hold their shape. It would be fun to experiment with different color combinations and textures! (I added some cute ones to this Party collection.)
Via Nikki Wills.
3. Mini Tissue Paper Flowers – A similar process on a much smaller scale! For these, you actually use a scalloped circle paper punch to create the “petal” shapes in the layers of tissue paper.
Via Vianney Rodriguez.
4. Marigold Margarita – Vianney Rodriguez made her own marigold-infused tequila with organic dried petals. Then she added citrus juice, cointreau, and salt around the rim.
What traditions are meaningful to you as you remember your loved ones?
Updated November 2023. Originally posted October 2017.
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Phillip finished grad school, after seven years of working full time and taking classes part-time. So we needed to have a party.
We ended up reserving space in a restaurant near where the commencement ceremony was, so friends and family could just go there directly afterward. I wanted to add some festive touches but knew I’d have little to no time to decorate before people got there. (It turned out to be the latter.)
I kept it super simple with a few school-themed items that I could set up in a flash – all using things I had on hand.
How I made the book page pennants:
1. Ripped out several pages of a ridiculous conspiracy theory novel that I had picked up from free bin outside Changing Hands. (I mean, I’m not going to cut up a good book!)
2. Found the center of the page by folding it in half, only creasing the very bottom of it and making a mark. You could also actually measure and/or use a template if you’re into precision.
3. Made a cut from the top right corner of the page to my center mark. Then repeated from the top left.
What I wish I would’ve done: cut from the top right and left margins of the page instead, so that the text would run all the way to the edge.
4. Punched a couple holes near the top of each pennant.
Then I just threaded some bakers’ twine through the holes and added the tassels.
Tassels
In keeping with the graduation theme, I made paper tassels for each end of the garland, loosely based on instructions I found on A Subtle Revelry.
Here’s how I adapted the project:
Cut about 4 thin strips of paper. (These don’t need to be the same width – or even cut straight.)
Folded over 3 of the strips, leaving a loop at the top. I made mine with a smaller loop and longer “tails” than the ones in the tassel tutorial, because I wanted the proportions more like the tassel on a graduation cap.
Fanned out the strips just a bit.
Stapled them in place.
Covered the staple by winding that last paper strip around the tassel and securing it with double stick tape.
Added a tassel to each side of the garland by threading the baker’s twine through the top loop.
What Didn’t Work…
Watercolor
I thought about adding some color with watercolors. However, my test pages totally curled up, even when I used the smallest amount of water possible or painted just part of the page.
The Pages
Another thing that could’ve been cool was using a book or notes from Phillip’s classes. But he didn’t have anything like that around – at least nothing that he was willing to sacrifice to the craft gods.
So I went with the conspiracy book, because I liked the page size.
I tried to make sure there wasn’t any murder on the pages I used, but it was hard to avoid. And there were still black helicopters and government officials typing things out on Blackberries – not very festive or on theme.
I hoped people would see it as decor and not try to read it.
No such luck.
One family member said they had been trying to figure out if the pages had some significance or clues. (Nope.) Another one asked me what the garland spelled. (Nothing.) It took me awhile to convince her that what she thought were large letters were actually backwards chapter numbers showing through some of the backlit pages.
I obviously should have come up with more for people to do.
What Worked (Mostly): The Decoration Bag
I loaded up a large ziploc bag with everything I (or whoever) would need to set up the decorations at the restaurant:
Chalkboard sign with “Phillip’s grad party!” already written on it – with chalk markers, so it wouldn’t smear.
A jar for markers and pens that had a chalkboard label on the front. I wrote “Please sign the program” on it with a little arrow pointing down.
Chalk markers in case one of my signs needed a touch-up.
Regular markers and pens, so people could sign the commencement ceremony program like a yearbook. These were just regular kids’ markers you’d find in the back-to-school aisle.
A wooden ruler to hold the program open. (Also because it was cute and school-y.)
The garland, carefully folded and placed between things so it wouldn’t get crunched up.
Washi tape to hang the garland.
Scissors.
This Yoobi kit in case we required a tiny stapler or scotch tape for some reason.
I had hoped to hand the bag off to my parents, who were designated to get the party started, since I guessed (correcty) that Phillip and I wouldn’t be able to leave the place where the ceremony was and get over there right away. But they were so focused on their mission that they left before I could give them the Decoration Bag.
So I set things up halfway through the party. Less than ideal, but that’s life.
At least having everything in one bag meant I could get it done in record time. And at least the guests didn’t have to wait on the food.
The forecast high in Phoenix for the longest day of the year was 120F (49C).
So it seemed like a great day to try baking outside.
On the way home from the summer solstice celebration at Burton Barr Library last Tuesday, we picked up chocolate chip cookie dough. I chose that for my solar cooking experiment, because there’s no raw egg in it, and if it doesn’t cook all the way, you end up with doughy cookies – not a bad thing, in my opinion!
I scooped spoonfuls of cookie dough into a reflective aluminum roasting pan, covered the top with plastic wrap, sealed the sides with packing tape to trap the heat, and added a meat thermometer, so I could see how hot it actually got next to the cookies.
I had intended to get an earlier start, but at 3:45pm, it was still 120 degrees out. So I decided to give it a go and set the pan in direct sun on our concrete patio.
The temperature inside the pan got as high as 160. The cookies began to look like they were melting, with the oil separating from the dough.
Four hours later, the sun was low enough in the sky that the whole patio was in the shade. The dough had flattened out into cookie shapes that were somewhat solid but still pretty soft.
So we scooped vanilla frozen yogurt on top (à la pizookie), and it was delicious!
Apparently, a proper solar oven will bake faster, even if it’s not as hot out. But I would try my improvised “oven” again on a day when I could get an earlier start and give it a little more time in the sun.
– More info –
The package actually said not to eat the cookie dough raw. That didn’t stop me. But I thought you should know.
Many of the solar ovens I saw online have glass on top. If you decide to use plastic wrap like I did (because I didn’t have any glass panes just sitting around), try to get good cling wrap. I used the Target brand, and it was really annoying trying to get it tight across the top. (In the end, it was a wrinkly mess.)
After our morning hike at Tumamoc Hill, we returned to the Mission Garden that evening for demonstrations on agave rope making and roasting, tequila tastings, a display of products made from agave fibers, plant sale, and The Opening of the Fire Pit.
The day before – probably about the time Phillip and I were driving from Phoenix to Tucson – a group had gathered at the Mission Garden.
Jesús García, an Education Specialist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, was demonstrating how to build a fire in a traditional roasting pit and fill it with agave hearts. They would be covered with metal from the side of an old washing machine and then layers of dirt to keep the heat inside the earth oven.
Other than the repurposed washing machine, the pit would be similar to the ones we had seen evidence of on our hike that morning, the charcoal gray rocks contrasting with the reddish desert clay only hinting at what was under our feet.
We don’t know exactly how the ancient roasting pits worked. Current tribes in the area have not continued this tradition. However, Jesús García pointed out that just a few miles south of the border, “the tradition is still alive.” He talked to his family in Mexico about the process, taking notes and drawing extensive diagrams about every step.
Adapting those techniques to the Tucson area has taken some trial and error. Apparently, last year’s cooking time wasn’t quite enough.
So this year, they would give the agave a full 24 hours to cook underground before literally digging in and opening up the fire pit.
That must be the magic number. It was soft and slightly sweet. Each variety had a different flavor. One tasted like sweet potatoes.
So what if you don’t happen to have access to a 5-foot by 6-foot roasting pit?
Carolyn Niethammer shared how she roasts quartered agave heads in her home oven – just roast at 350 for 17 hours (!)
Once they’ve been roasted, you can add them into other dishes.
With an electric skillet, she demonstrated how to saute up some agave along with nopales (prickly pear pads), peppers, and tepary beans, a drought-tolerant heritage bean that has recently come back into use. It was delicious!
