A new take on Halloween pumpkins

Try something new this year, and decorate and "dress" some of your pumpkins and gourds instead of carving them. They will last longer, and all ages can take an active part in creating them.

Wash the pumpkins and gourds, and dry them thoroughly. Let the children search the house for "found" items they can use for decorating: buttons, string, ribbon and bows, hats, sunglasses, construction paper, shiny paper, stickers, cotton balls, candy, doll accessories, dried weeds and flowers, pins, medals, earrings, cardboard tubes or fabric scraps.

Place all collected items on a newspaper-covered work surface. Give each child a pumpkin to decorate. Draw features with markers or paint. Once dry, add hair, beards and accessories by gluing on items or attaching them with straight pins. Carefully poke medals and pierced earrings directly into the pumpkins.

Show off the new members of your family (or decorate a pumpkin to look like you!) by displaying them at your door, on your porch, along a walkway or perched on a tree branch to catch the attention of October guests.

Extra ideas:

• For quick, make-ahead Halloween-themed snacks, scoop orange sherbet in muffin tins. Decorate each large scoop with small candies and trimmed licorice to resemble a jack-o-lantern. Set in the freezer until ready to serve.
• For lollipop ghosts, loosely drape the center of an opened white paper napkin over a lollipop. Tie with a ribbon where the stick meets the candy. Draw eyes and a mouth with a black marker.

Donna Erickson's award-winning series "Donna's Day" is airing on public television nationwide. To find more of her creative family recipes and activities, visit www.donnasday.com and link to the NEW Donna's Day Facebook fan page. Her latest book is "Donna Erickson's Fabulous Funstuff for Families."

(c) 2016 Donna Erickson Distributed by King Features Synd.