Easy Painted Unicorn Pumpkin
This unicorn pumpkin is SO CUTE! Celebrate make-believe and magic this Halloween with this easy no-carve pumpkin painted and decorated like a unicorn!
Unicorn Pumpkin
I love how this unicorn pumpkin turned out! It’s just so sweet, the perfect contrast to darker coloured Halloween crafts. Best of all, a no-carve pumpkin is longer lasting than a jack-o-lantern, and it’s mess free (no pumpkin guts to deal with!).
To make this unicorn pumpkin we painted a real pumpkin white, but you could also start with a white pumpkin! Or try using a styrofoam pumpkin for a decoration that will last for years.
If you have a unicorn headband you can take that apart and use the pieces to decorate your pumpkin. You could also add a mane out of yarn or streamers and add glittery star stickers to the cheeks.
Check out our Unicorn Pumpkin video tutorial:
*Note: Scroll down for the step-by-step photo tutorial.
Looking for more fun pumpkin decorating ideas? Here’s a few of our favourites:
Here’s what you’ll need:
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The full printable instructions are at the end of this post, but here’s a list of products on Amazon and Target that are similar to the supplies we used:
- Paintbrush
- Acrylic paint
- Scissors
- Glitter cardstock (you can buy a single sheet at the craft store!)
- Mini glue gun
- Craft foam sheets
- Pencil
- Tacky glue
- Paper flowers
What paint should I use on the pumpkin?
You’ll want to use a good quality, multi-surface acrylic paint for the pumpkin. Dollar store acrylic paint works, but it requires a lot of coats to make the pumpkin look fully white. We used 2 coats of latex primer on our pumpkin and 1 coat of white acrylic paint.
You can also take your pumpkin outside and use spray paint on it. It’s easier to coat the pumpkin, but definitely messier and more expensive.
What else can I use to make the horn?
You can make your horn out of felt or foam and roll it into a tube shape. Or you can sculpt a horn out of a clay like Model Magic and then paint it gold. You could also wind gold yarn around a styrofoam cone!
Where can I get flower decorations for my pumpkin unicorn?
The dollar store is a great resource for faux flowers – we found the paper flowers you see in the photos in the craft section at the dollar store. You can also check the artificial flower section for fabric flowers or make your own felt flowers!
DIY Unicorn Pumpkin
Materials:
- Latex primer(optional)
- Acrylic paint(white and pink)
- Gold glitter cardstock
- Craft foam sheets(white, pink, and black)
- Tacky glue
- Paper flowers
Equipment:
Instructions:
Step 1: Paint pumpkin
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Begin by removing the stem from your pumpkin. (If it’s small enough that the horn can fit over it, you can leave it on.)Now paint your pumpkin white. We did two layers of primer and one layer of acrylic paint.You can also start with a white pumpkin so you don’t have to paint it!
Step 2: Make horn
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Cut a piece of glitter cardstock to the size horn you want. For our small pie pumpkins we cut the cardstock to 5 x 5 inches, which makes a 5 inch tall horn.Now cut on a curve from one corner to the next.
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On the remaining corner (across from where you cut), snip off a tiny bit.
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Roll your cardstock into a cone shape and add hot glue to the inside edge.
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Press the cardstock together, and you now have a unicorn horn!
Step 3: Make ears
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On a sheet of white craft foam draw two ear shapes with a flat bottom.Our unicorn pumpkin’s ears are 2-1/4 inches tall and 1-1/4 inches wide, but you can adjust the measurements based on the size of your pumpkin.
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Trace the white ears onto pink craft foam.
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Now draw a full ear shape inside each of the shapes you just traced.
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Cut out the pink inner ears and add tacky glue to the pink foam.
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Press the pink inner ears onto the white ear shapes, lining them up on the bottom and centering them horizontally.
Step 4: Cut out eyes
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Draw two closed eyelids with eyelashes onto a piece of black craft foam.
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Cut out the eye shapes.
Step 5: Attach everything
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Place hot glue on the bottom of the horn.
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Attach the horn on top of where the pumpkin stem was.
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Add a line of hot glue to the bottom of the foam ears.
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Attach them to the top of the pumpkin, one on either side of the horn.
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Now attach the eyes to the front of the pumpkin.Our black foam had a sticky backing, but you can also hot glue the eyes on if needed.
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Add hot glue to the bottom of the paper flowers.
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Arrange and attach the flowers in a crown shape around the horn.
Step 6: Paint rosy cheeks
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Using the bottom of a paint bottle (or whatever circle size works for your pumpkin), trace a circle on each side in the cheek area.
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Fill in the circle with a nice bubblegum pink colour.
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Your unicorn pumpkin is complete!
Helpful Tip:
Stick with the pink colour scheme, or use orange and black flowers for a more Halloween themed unicorn pumpkin. Whatever colours you choose, this sweet DIY unicorn pumpkin will be the star of your Halloween celebrations!
Here’s even more fun pumpkin craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books- A- Million | Indiebound | Indigo | Amazon Canada
