The Best Pumpkin Carving Tools And Halloween Yard Decorations For Scaring Trick-Or-Treaters
From pickled heads and cocooned corpses to fog machines and NFL carving tools, everything you need for an epic fright night.
There’s more to Halloween than just winning people’s approval with a clever Halloween costume that nobody else is wearing. There’s also winning people’s approval with scary haunted houses, terrifying Halloween yard decorations, and intricately detailed Jack O’Lanterns. And to help you do that, we rounded up the best Halloween gear including pumpkin carving tools, a slime-shooting blaster, a beer tap for your pumpkin, and the freakiest pickled heads the kids will ever run away from.
Cocoon Corpse
Kids may love caterpillars and cocoons but you can already see the sheer terror on their faces when they accidentally bump into this 7-foot corpse dangling from the front porch. It’s made of a lightweight, hollow wire-frame that compresses for easy storage, sways creepily in the breeze, and looks even more haunting under black light.
The WebCaster Gun
As the odds of being bitten by an irradiated spider before Halloween are low, consider the WebCaster Gun the next easiest way to spray your haunted house with realistic-looking spider webs. It comes in two models, both of which look like glue guns from the local arts and craft store, use the same glue cartridges, and are designed to produce professional “movie quality cobweb effects” in the comfort of your own living room. The only difference is that one attaches to an air compressor and the other to your vacuum cleaner.
Haunted Radio
It’s hard to beat staticky radio sounds on a dark night to send shivers down a trick-or-treater’s spine, and this vintage haunted radio does just that. It also features a decorative skull and “emits a ghostly glow.”
Pickled Phreaks
These freaky hand-sculpted pickled heads with names like Piranha Pete and Two-Faced Fred are cast in rubber and come in a five-gallon tank. Just fill with water, switch on the built-in multi-colored LEDs, and sit back to enjoy the show. The company, Scare Products, has been making pro-level Halloween gear for 20 years and even offers themed full-room packages (Carcass Corner, Maggot Mayhem, etc.) if you really want to take it up a notch. None of it’s cheap ⏤ the heads run $250 a pop or $1,100 for a set of five ⏤ but, man, will it phreak everybody out.
NFL Pumpkin Carving Kits
The beauty of an NFL pumpkin carving kit is that depending on which team you choose, your pumpkin will either look scary (Eagles) or not at all frightening (Cardinals) ⏤ your choice. They include a carving tool and six stencils highlighting team names and logos. If you can’t find your favorite franchise on the NFL site, check Amazon, there are more teams there.
Swinging Decrepit Doll
The hallowed-out eyes glow blue, her head turns side to side, and she speaks in haunting phrases ⏤ all while swinging eerily back and forth in the front yard. Even better, this doll has an integrated infrared sensor and automatically turns on whenever someone approaches.
KegWorks Pumpkin Tap Kit
Regardless of your affinity for pumpkin beer (it’s delicious, but no judgment), you have to admit that serving it out of a real pumpkin to parents walking around with their kids is a solid move. The tap’s made out of chrome-plated brass, requires little more than drilling a hole to install, and can also be used to turn a watermelon into a keg come summer cookout season.
Skeleton Kitty Cat
Because nothing freaks out kids like the thought of being mauled by the neighbor’s dead cat, this life-size kitty skeleton is made out of flexible plastic and has a jaw that opens to expose a mouthful of fangs.
Ray Villafane Pumpkin Carving Tools
Ray Villafane is a sculptor famous for carving crazy detailed artistic pumpkins. The odds are low that your pumpkin will look anything like one of his, but if he recommends this set of five wooden pumpkin carving tools, it’s probably your best bet. He also sells a pumpkin carving DVD tutorial which could help, as well.
Gemmy Outdoor Fire And Ice Lightshow
What better way to trick your neighbors and the local fire department on Halloween than by making it look like your house is burning down. Simply stick this 3-LED rotating spotlight (red, orange, yellow) in the ground, plug it in, and watch your house ‘go up in flames.’ Or just enjoy the colorful light show — up to you.
Doctor Dreadful Zombie Snot Shots
Gross-out Halloween trick-or-treaters with one of these delicious-but-disgusting candy snots and wax snax. They’re easy to mix, come in chocolate and vanilla, and, best of all, are served oozing out of a fake nose or ear.
Pumpkin Gutter Carving Tool
One mixing beater you’re definitely not going to want to lick, the Pumpkin Gutter attaches to your power drill and uses stainless steel blades to wreak havoc on the inside of your Halloween gourd. In minutes, it cuts out the flesh, strings, and guts while leaving the seeds unblemished and ready for roasting.
Chauvet Hurricane 700 Fog Machine
Who says you need to be in a Meatloaf tribute band to own your own fog machine? Also, who knew fog machines were so cheap? For only $34, the handheld Hurricane 700 comes with a wired remote control and will fill any haunted house and/or living room with “thick bursts of water-based fog.” For an extra $40, they’ll even throw in a strobe light in case you want to perform a special rendition of “Bat Out Of Hell” for the neighborhood kids.
Dremel 7000 Pumpkin Carving Kit
For those who aspire to move beyond recreational Jack O’Lantern carving and/or impress the neighbors with a pumpkin that looks like Benedict Cumberbatch, the 6V cordless Dremel 7000 lets you apply a crazy intricate level of detail to your designs. The 1/8-inch diameter high-speed cutter rotates at two speeds (6,000 rpm or 12,000 rpm) and comes with 10 templates including a witch, scary cat, and vampire. Best part, you can pretty much use the thing like a real Dremel tool the rest of the year, and it only cost you $19.
Splatoon! Splattershot Slime Blaster
Incoming Halloween trick-or-treaters will never know what hit them. Nintendo’s game-inspired Splatoon! blaster shoots easy-to-clean, water-based gack up to 30 feet and comes with two canisters of ammo (100 shots).
Inflatable Jabba The Hutt
Seeing as your kid’s trick-or-treating as Chewy and your dog’s currently dressed as an At-At Imperial Walker, you may as well go all-in on the Star Wars Halloween with this inflatable lawn Jabba. It stands 6-feet-tall by 8-feet-long, lights up, and even comes with its own fan.
