In keeping with my earlier post this week on creating a simple Thanksgiving tablescape, I’ve got an easy DIY to share today that would be a beautiful addition to your holiday table— DIY pumpkin candle holders!

This may seem like a challenging sort of project, but I promise it’s easy, and 10 minutes are all you need to create a whole bunch of pumpkin candle holders!

Before I show you the step-by-step, let me tell you a little story.

I am really bad at split-second decision making. I like to have time to consider all of my options, and the consequences of each. But there are moments when Time isn’t on my side, and I have to decide whether to jump in headfirst, usually into a situation that completely terrifies me.

Case in point, I received a text from my friend Anne last Thursday saying she had a TV opportunity for it. But it was last minute. A local news station needed someone for a post-Halloween segment on Saturday morning. Me? On TV? In less than 48 hours? 

Gulp.

I wanted to say “thank you for thinking of me, but I’m not available” so, so badly. But my Saturday morning was wide open. And as much as the thought of a live TV appearance made my stomach butterflies race into a frenzy, how cool of an opportunity is this!? And, I mean, HGTV isn’t going to discover me if I’m just sitting around my house all shy and such (wink, wink). So I said yes. And promptly freaked out for the next 40-ish hours. I had to come up with a pumpkin-related project, test it out and make sure it could be completed in the 3-minute segment. Whew!

You’ve probably guessed by now that I whipped up a bunch of these pumpkin candle holders to demonstrate on air.

And guess what? For all my anxiety and worry, the segment went just fine! You can see Two Purple Couches’ TV debut right here:

Now let me break down the details for these DIY pumpkin candle holders! As I said, they’re pretty simple. A little messy, but simple!

Directions:

Step 1: Gather all of your supplies together and clear a workplace. I’d suggest working on a solid wood or other sturdy cutting board.

Step 2: Grab the candle you’ll be using (tealights and votives work great), and trace the shape of the candle around the stem area of your pumpkin.

Step 3: Then take a sharp knife and carefully begin cutting out your circle. I used a double-serrated grapefruit knife. It worked very well, but I also wound up cutting myself a few times, so please watch your fingers! And don’t let your kids handle the knife! Once you’ve got this cut, clean out the pumpkin guts. I used the handle of a large soup spoon. (you can save the seeds to toast if you like!)

Step 4: Once it’s all cleaned out, you’ll probably need to go back and trim a bit more of the pumpkin so your candle will fit snugly inside.

And there you go! Repeat as many times as you’d like to create a cute collection of pumpkins for your Thanksgiving and holiday tables! You could line several down the center of your table or group together on various (firesafe) pedestals. Really, you can’t go wrong with these!

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Sharing with: Creative Spark / Outside the Box / Share It Sunday