With Halloween coming up on Thursday (10/31/19), many kids have already carved their pumpkins.

I am seeing Jack-O-Lanterns on doorsteps all over the lakes area and more online photos of the creations made over this past weekend.  So I was wondering, how can these people work to keep them looking as fresh as possible days prior to the holiday?  I am an HGTV freak, so off I went.

Here are some things that they report to do:

1.  Clean the inside thoroughly.  Dry it thoroughly, too.
2. Apply some petroleum jelly or oil on the carved edges – BUT BE CAREFUL…FLAMMABLE!  Use a glow stick or battery light.
3. Store it in the fridge (do we need to do that in Minnesota?  It’s like a fridge out there already!)
4. Rehydrate the pumpkin daily.  Spray with water.  Or spray with a water/bleach mix to keep bacteria from growing.
5. Don’t carve it.  Paint or draw on it instead

Unless you want a geriatric-looking Jack, then ignore this.

Either way…. Happy Pumpkining!  And good luck!