The Pumpkin Cooler

This project is a cute and festive way to spice up your party or house while celebrating, and keep your drinks cold! It’s quick, easy, and affordable, also looks amazing once it’s done.

• Pumpkin
• Knife
• Ice
• Drinks
• Paint (decorations of your choice)
• Bleach
• Saran Wrap

Since cleaning out a pumpkin can get messy, prepare your workspace before you start your project. I recommend newspapers or anything that will keep your counter tops from the mess that pumpkin “guts” create.

Using a knife, carefully cut a medium sized hole at the top of your pumpkin big enough so you can reach inside and clean it out. Once you have done that, it’s time to clean out the pumpkin. You can use your hands, a spoon, or any tool you would like, just make sure all those guts are gone! You can dispose of the seeds and guts after, make a nice snack, or grow a pumpkin!

Now it’s time for the biggest step of the process, cutting your pumpkin. You’re going to be cutting a hole on the main surface of the pumpkin so that you can fit drinks, food, etc. and still be able to grab them. The way you cut your pumpkin is completely up to you, it all just depends on how you want the final outcome to look! For my project, I cut out about 3/4 of one side of the pumpkin so the hole was big enough to put drinks in and get them out when needed.

To preserve my pumpkin to keep it from rotting as fast as pumpkins usually do, I gave it a bleach bath. If you have another way of preserving pumpkins or would like to risk it rotting that is completely your choice, I highly recommend preserving it in some way though. For my bleach bath, I used 1 tablespoon of bleach per each gallon of water to make my solution. Once that was prepared, I soaked my pumpkin for about 5 hours but anywhere between 4-6 should do the job. While the pumpkin is soaking, occasionally pour water over the pumpkins and turn them/move them around.

This step is where you let your creativity flow! Make your pumpkin unique from anyone else’s, the more creative you get, the better! For my pumpkin, I kept the original color of the pumpkin and then added designs and other decorations to make it my own. Remember; the more creative you get with this step, the cooler your final outcome will be!

Before putting the ice in and finally finishing your cooler, you should take one more step. For this step, take your Saran Wrap and carefully cover the interior of the pumpkin with it making sure it’s secure on the pumpkin and won’t slip when adding the ice. This will keep any extra guts or goo from getting on your drinks and ice.

Finally, add the ice! Carefully add ice cubes or crushed ice to the bottom of your pumpkin filling it so the whole bottom floor is covered. Once you ice is secure, add your drinks or whatever you desire!