The Easiest Way To Carve A Pumpkin, Explained On TikTok

Carving pumpkins is one of the hardest, messiest projects, but not anymore! TikToker Barbara Costello (@brunchwithbabs) shares her grandmother wisdom with carving hacks to save you time and energy.

Posted just in time for Halloween weekend, the self-proclaimed "everyone's grandmother" skillfully and smartly shared knowledge to ensure "no mess and no fuss" to make your pumpkin last through the season.

Titling the viral video the "Do’s and Don’ts of Pumpkin Carving," Babs kicks off the video with a hand mixer in tow as it does all the hard work of loosening up all of the pumpkin strings. Next, she tells us to sit and carve the bottom of the pumpkin, which keeps it fresher for longer when the stem is intact.

When it comes to designing your pumpkin, she recommends using a red dry-erase marker so that it is easy to wipe off when you're done. If you don't want to struggle using a carving knife, Babs recommends using cookie cutters to cut the shapes out with the help of a soft-headed mallet to push through the tough pumpkin. To further preserve the pumpkin's freshness, she puts Vaseline over the cut surfaces so it lasts 1-2 weeks. Finally, to have your jack-o-lantern smelling wonderful, she sprinkles cinnamon right on the top of the pumpkin.

Her caption reads: "It is a treasured tradition in our family to carve jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. But with all the yuck and mess, sometimes my kids would quit the project before we even started. Babs’ Do’s and Don’ts for Pumpkin Carving saves the mess and speeds up carving so you can have the perfect jack-o-lantern with no mess and no fuss."

The TikTok video has received over 24 million views and nearly 4 million likes since it was posted less than a week ago. "My God, Babs, you NEVER fail to impress and teach me something new, and inspiring," wrote one user in the comments section. Another wrote, "The end shocked me. I have never seen the pumpkin cut from the bottom. Genius." One TikToker said, "You are the mom I always wanted and never had."

Happy carving!

"Sexy" Halloween costumes are nothing new, but there is such a thing as going too far with the whole “sexy” angle.

Want proof? Check out these ten “sexy” Halloween costumes that actually exist. Perhaps you'll see one or more of these costumes when attending an upcoming Halloween party!

The folks at Yandy call this outfit the "What's the Word Costume" likely for trademark reasons, but we know what this. There aren't enough five-letter words to describe how lame it is to try and make Wordle "sexy."

Not quite sure what the point of this costume even is. "Hustle" culture isn't great as it is, but we don't need to make it "sexy."

Similar to the "Work Harder" costume, this one leads to more questions than answers. Do racing pit crews need to be "sexy"? How affective is this person when trying to change tires quickly considering the bottom half of her boobs are out?

Oh, wow...is this costume wild! The "Con Heiress" costume is not-so-loosely based on Anna Sorokin, the woman who famously posed as a German heiress and con a bunch of high-society New Yorkers out of money. (The whole saga was chronicled in the Netflix series Inventing Anna.) The whole costume is rather simple, but the obvious draw is the included pair of underwear with "Do you accept wire transfer?" on the butt.

If you don't understand the context of this costume, you might be high.

Cruella de Vil is actually a great costume idea, but a “Sexy” Cruella with a Dalmatian is slightly disturbing, because of that whole making the dogs into a coat thing.

For those that wanted Maverick, Goose and/or Iceman to hook up, there's some good news with these costumes.

This one seems a bit redundant considering Wonder Woman is already sexy, but hey...to each their own.

Seriously, no one asked to make movie popcorn "sexy"!

Similar to the aforementioned movie popcorn, no one asked to make the murderous Chucky doll "sexy"! Just stop it!