I think it’s pretty well established that I have a serious pumpkin addiction; as in, I’ve never met a pumpkin I didn’t want to buy. Mike jokingly suggested that next year I should try growing my own pumpkins. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT, YOU GUYS? What a wonderful disaster that would be. Obviously I’m going to do it.
A few weeks ago Annabel and I were at Trader Joe’s and of course, we were both drawn to the pumpkins. There was a large box of Fairytale Pumpkins, and when I told Annie that’s what they were called she said, “Mama, that’s because they look like Cinderella’s pumpkins!”
That got my wheels turning, and I thought it could be fun to put together some “Princess Pumpkins” for Annie. I gathered up a few accessories, and last night I put them all together after Annie went to bed.
First up was the Cinderella pumpkin that inspired me:
This one was (obviously) very simple.
Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog:
Tiana is definitely not one to make her jambalaya from a mix, but we’ll just let that slide for now.
Belle from Beauty and the Beast:
Reading books, drinking tea, all in a day’s work.
Pocahontas:
She’s ready to paint with all the colors of the wind.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:
Ariel from The Little Mermaid:
I had to make sure Ariel had her Dinglehopper.
Rapunzel from Tangled:
I have a feeling this braided yarn wig is going to be a big hit with Annabel.
Merida from Brave.
…and once Annie gets tired of the Rapunzel braid, the Merida yarn wig will be next.
I have the pumpkins all arranged on our kitchen floor so she can see them as soon as she enters the room in the morning. I am excited to see her reaction! I hope she likes them.
EDITED TO ADD:
She loved them!
She squealed, “Oh my gosh! Those pumpkins are dressed like Princesses!” She then went on to identify who each pumpkin was supposed to be, which is more than some people in this house can do, ahem Mike.
Sue says:
Your talent is just beyond words, Heather! How fantastic!!!!!
Lisa! says:
Will we have to wait til Friday to see her reaction? I am hoping you are going to record it!
Heather says:
I took a picture and added it to the post!
shannon says:
Oh my! You have outdone yourself! I bought two fairytale punkins as well, and just stacked them out near the front door… I don’t have your flare…..and my kids don’t care..lol.
Karen says:
You are uber talented! So jealous of fabulous moms who think all of these things up. I have had a couple of ah-hah moments but that is just amazing!
Erin says:
Those are adorable! It’s so funny, because my daughter (who is one month younger than Annie) asked me for a Princess Jasmine pumpkin this year. This is a girl who wears a Princess Jasmine costume around the house every single day. I was going to try to paint Jasmine’s face on a pumpkin and use yarn for the hair, so we’ll see how that turns out!
Heather says:
Oh, that will be so cute!!!
Nellie says:
I wish I possessed even a smidgen of your creativity and talent – I love them all!!! My daughter is going to freak the freak out when I show her these and of course, will be me to make the same thing….thanks a lot Ms. Creative Guru of California!
Jane says:
You are AMAZING! What creativity! What I especially love is that you do all of these amazingly imaginative things (hello, “While you were at preschool…”) to make Annie happy! You go, Warrior Woman!
Leslie says:
You are the most fun mom ever!
Yes, you should grow your own pumpkins next year. It’s amazingly easy, we’ve grown them for our granddaughters for the past four summers. It’s so much fun to watch the little pumpkins (or “punknums” as the girls call them) grow into giant orange jack o’lantern orbs. We always cut them off the vine the week before Halloween and spend an afternoon designing and carving our creations.
Maris says:
I’m sure she loved these! The first one’s my fav
Shannon says:
Those are so great! We grew pumpkins this year, and they were actually Fairytale pumpkins! Ours were dark orange though. They were relatively easy & took over the ENTIRE garden. The biggest problem was the squirrels eating them in the fall, but we still got 5-6 huge pumpkins even after the squirrels!
ColleenMN says:
They are all very creative but something scares me about Snow White…..
Anna says:
So clever! Annie is going to flip.
Beth says:
I’m impressed. How long did this take?
Heather says:
I painted them all last night after the kids went to bed. The Rapunzel braid I made a few nights ago. I already had all of the accessories, so I just had to hunt them all down!
Jessica Stringer says:
SO COOL!!! What a neat idea! I bet Annie will LOVE this! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Jennifer says:
Seriously amazing…how creative! Can’t wait to see her face (I’m assuming you will capture it on film).
Heather says:
yes – I added it to the post after she woke up!
Shanna says:
Great idea! I encourage you to grow pumpkins. I did it in my backyard, and it’s so easy.
Jenb says:
This is so creative. Glad to see you didn’t put a chip in your teacup
Melissa says:
Those are fantastic! I’m sure Annie will love them! There was a story on the news here last week about something like 600 pumpkins were stolen from a pumpkin farm. They said they “obviously weren’t for someone’s personal use.” I immediately thought of your pumpkin addiction… maybe they’re wrong! HA!
Heather says:
I could easily, no joke, find something to do with 600 pumpkins. Like, I just got goosebumps thinking about it!
Cheryl says:
When do you sleep??? You are the funnest Mom ever!!
Stephanie says:
These are great! I’m in the midst of creating long hair for Queen Elinor from Brave with brown yarn (we’re going to be an entirely Brave family this year). Can you tell me how you made the Rapunzel hair?
Heather says:
I wrapped the yarn a zillion times around two poles, and then cut one end of the loop so that I had a bunch of really long strings. Then I just tied one end and braided the yarn together! But, I just saw this tutorial and I think it’s exactly what you need: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/190980840421603753/
I LOVE your costume idea!
Stephanie says:
Thanks so much – that’s perfect! Let’s see if I can get it done before my daughter’s school’s trunk or treat event on Friday (we’re having a Brave-themed trunk of course, complete with an archery target and homemade PVC pipe bows for the kids to try their hand at archery).
Skye says:
Holy crap. You are an awesome mom!
Jan Reynolds says:
LOVE THIS! Have to show my 18 and 21 year old daughters this. Both Disney freaks!!
randy says:
And all those masterpiece pumpkins were created by the same mom who several days ago was beating herself up for not have patience and not being supermom 24/7+??? Really!
Give yourself some extra credit for Halloween effort above and beyond and start plotting & planning your Christmas spectaculars…problem is you are a tough act to follow for yourself each year:=)/special occasion!
BTW – Kinda fun to find James & Mike on Yahoo last night about his fear of fatherhood for father & son versus super dad to his experience with daughters.
Leslie says:
You’re the best mom ever. For reals.
MG says:
Her expression in the last picture is absolutely priceless! Makes it all worth it, doesn’t it?
nic singleton says:
ZOMG!!! You’re so awesome!!!
Tammy M. says:
Brilliant!
paola says:
You are seriously amazing! WOW
Jen says:
These are awesome (although I think I am the only person who HATED the movie, Brave). You should definitely grow your own pumpkins, they are really easy and Annie would love it!
Lanie says:
Those pumpkins are fabulous! I can’t wait to see (or read) about Annie’s reaction. Can you also let us know how long it took before she was wearing the Tangled braid :-)?
Heather says:
Shockingly, while she wanted to play with the braid, she never wanted to take it off of the pumpkin! And I added a photo of her face when she saw the pumpkins!
Annalisa says:
When I worked as an Elementary School teacher in Texas, one of the schools I worked at had a pumpkin patch that kindergarteners helped tend to every year, and harvested in October just in time for Halloween decorations (the patch was tiny, big enough for a pumpkin per K classroom). It was a tradition of sorts.
If kindergarteners can grow their own pumpkins, I don’t see why you couldn’t.
Jackie says:
Did you paint those freehand or use a stencil??? SO cute. Your days must be 34 hours long! I don’t know how you do it!
Heather says:
STENCIL! I can’t draw a straight line without help!
Molly says:
Oh man. You make me feel so normal. You are an exceptional mom!
Mary Brock says:
How did you make the Pocahontas and Ariel hair?
Paula says:
Heather – I hope you know that your daughter will forever, ever, and ever appreciate everything that you have done to make her childhood so magical.