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As I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog, I’m a huge fan of Fall and Halloween! Unfortunately, between my husband’s birthday in September and planning for the annual cook out we have the first weekend in October, decorating the house usually takes a back seat to the stresses of real life. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve rushed to put up cheap spider webs and last minute skeletons the weekend before Halloween. Terrible, I know.
But not this year!
Last weekend my husband and I cleaned up the front yard with the help of Rubbermaid Roughneck products and finalized my big plans for the Halloween Pumpkin Archway I’ve been thinking about for a year. Sure, my neighbors thought I was insane when they saw the streak of bright orange on my front porch in August but now that everything is assembled, all I have to do is pop that sucker up in a few weeks and we’ll be good to go!
If you’ve been following me on Instagram (which I highly suggest you do!), you may remember when I stuffed 30 discounted pumpkins in my small car after Halloween. (Check out the picture here!) My husband thought I was kinda crazy…ok, really crazy but what’s new there, right?! Well, here we are, almost a year later and I’m ready to put them to good use!
The process to making this archway is really easy and only requires a few tools (safety goggles are a must!) and materials from Home Depot. I wanted my arch to be as tall as my porch covering so we ended up using 35 cheap plastic pumpkins. I got them 3 for a dollar on clearance last year so that only put me back about 10 bucks! You can always use fewer pumpkins if you don’t want your arch quite as tall. Here’s how we made it…
Halloween Pumpkin Archway
Materials
- Halloween Plastic Pumpkins
- (2) 10′ PVC Pipe (1/2″ worked well for us)
- (2) 4′ Rebar Poles (1/2″ so that it fits inside of pipes)
- (2) Couplers (1/2″)
- 1.5″ Hole Saw Bit and Drill
Instructions
Step One. Cut one of the PVC pipes in half, giving you 2 5′ sections. Use the 1.5″ Hole Saw Bit to drill a large opening in the base of each pumpkin. Drilling holes in 35 pumpkins sounds daunting but the plastic is really thin so it goes by pretty quickly.
Step Two. Clear up the area you’re planning to put the archway in. The 45 Gallon Roughneck Wheeled Trash Can was the perfect size to move where ever needed as we were pulling up excess grass and such in our planter bed. They’re a great price at Home Depot so you’re definitely going to want to run and get one!
Step Three. Hammer the rebar into the ground, sinking it at least one foot. We placed a pumpkin down first to make sure we had enough clearance room between the archway and our stones. (Notice all that grass we still have to clear? We’ll be pulling out our Roughneck trashcan for the next few weekends!)
Slide the 5′ sections of PVC over the rebar and then start stacking the pumpkins. You can stop here if you just want pumpkin pillars instead of an archway. Use the rest of the pumpkins to cover the 10′ PVC pipe completely. Enlist the help of another person to lift up the pipe on both sides. One at a time, insert the end into a coupler placed on the top of the upright pole. Make sure both ends are secure. Wouldn’t want one of the sides to pop out of the coupler and send pumpkins flying everywhere!
Stand back and appreciate!
We had so much fun making this Halloween Pumpkin Archway as a family! I’m happy to report that we’ve taken it down and it’s now stored in our garage where it’ll stay for the next few weeks. That will give you just enough time to find some cheap pumpkins and make one of your own!
Check out more fun Halloween projects from Tried & True:
Vintage Halloween Printables | Animal Eyes Halloween Wreath | Skeleton Halloween Wreath
Sharon Rexroad's Bringing Creativity 2 Life says
I don’t know, pumpkins flying everywhere might be fun! Paint them glow in the dark and at midnight —- BBBBBWHHHHAaaaHHHaaaaHAAA!!!!!
Vanessa Brady says
Hah, I could even charge money to watch The Amazing Flying Pumpkins! 😀
[email protected] says
This is SOOOO clever!! And how do we live without Rubbermaid in the decorating world? My attic is LOADED with its goodness! 🙂
Vanessa Brady says
Right?! Rubbermaid is a MUST for crafty organization!
Heidi @ Happiness is Homemade says
I love this!
Vanessa Brady says
Thanks, Heidi!
Jenna says
Oh. My. Goodness. This is so cool! Those Rubbermaid totes are so handy! Love them!
Vanessa Brady says
Thanks, Jenna! You’re totally right, I can never have enough Rubbermaid containers!
Jennifer @ Town and Country Living says
That archway is so cool!! Great idea.
Vanessa Brady says
Thanks! It was worth all the crazy looks from my neighbors!
Ashley Phipps (SimplyDesigning) says
What a super cute idea!!!
amy @ one artsy mama says
What a clever idea! Loving it!
Leanne says
Oh my gosh! How adorable is this archway. I love Halloween!
Cynthia Almas says
and how about adding some led orange lights up inside each one.. you can string them along with the pumpkins 🙂 and plug in at night!! 🙂 so doing this.. i may even do just stakes and not the arch.. to line the deck.. mwhahahaha BOO!!
Vanessa Brady says
I like the way you think! Lights would be so much fun!
Lenore says
I also thought of lights would be a great idea!
Paul says
I’m going to attempt this. I will tweek mine to include a set of clear lights run through it to light up at night. Yep!
Annetinca says
This looks great! I was wondering how you connected it in the middle? Are the 2 – ten foot PVC pipes that flexible?
Did you use 3 couplers instead of 2? Or did you have 2 – 5 foot lengths of PVC and 2 – 10 foot lengths?
Renee says
My question, too. Can’t figure it out.
Vanessa Brady says
The PVC pipe bends nicely!
Katie @ Sweet Society says
I love this idea and now I’m on the hunt for some plastic pumpkins. 🙂
Raygan says
I like this idea! I think to make it a little simpler for me, I’m going to do pumpkin pillars! Thanks for the idea!!!
Chris says
Came across this via a friend on Pinterest. I tend to have extravagant light shows and displays for the holidays and figured I should add this decorative idea to my display this year. I will be using lights inside of the pumpkins and making the archway dance to Halloween music. YouTube video showing it in action to come!!
Billi Bailey Miller says
Love the arch. Diffidently gonna try it.
Kim says
I love your pumpkin archway and plan to make one next year. But I’m hoping to be able to thread a string of lights through the pumpkins. Do you think that’s possible with your current measurements for pvc pipe and the hole you drilled in the pumpkins or will it need to be a little bigger?
Vanessa Brady says
I’ve been wanting to add lights to ours too! There should be enough leeway to add the lights if they’re not to big. I would suggest trying it with just a few at first to make sure. Hope that helps!