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“Spare Parts” Pumpkin Face Kit!

Gotta admit upfront, this could be an "interesting" week. I like to write most of the following week's Countdown articles on the weekend, because there's just no guarantee that I'm going to be lucid enough to write them when I get home from work. This past weekend, I wrote no Halloween Countdown articles. I had a family thing Friday, a friend thing Saturday and a pass out thing Sunday. If you notice any strange asides about death and about wanting death and about pleading for death during this week's run of articles, you'll know why.

Today's feature came out okay, though. "Spare Parts" is a silly kit that lets people make jack o' lanterns without actually carving them, Mr. Potato Head style. I wasn't impressed, but I wrote about it anyway.

Oh, I have more to say.


I've already told you about Target's Mountain Dew Pitch Black Freezes, but at the time, I didn't know about these. They have official cups! Why is this important? I've held onto empty (and full) cans of the first two Pitch Black incarnations, and now, I'll have a memento of the third. You should have that, too. I recommend buying an extra just for the cup. Don't fill it, because it'll be sticky forever no matter how many times you wash it. Keep one empty -- that'd be your trophy piece. Your mantle's gonna be freakin' awesome.

Posted by Matt on 10/02/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 86 comments

You know, now that I realize it, I’ve been going to the same pumpkin patch for the past 16 years to get a pumpkin. It really makes you feel old. I love that place.

Chestnuts roasted by Phil G. @ 10/02/2006 9:41 PM

At one Target, I got the cool cup, and at another I didn’t. I was totally counting on the awesome Halloween-themed cup to put my spooky icee in. =(

Those spare parts are cool in theory, but I’d much rather carve my pumpkin. I totally love your use of that pig snout, though. Kids might get a kick out of this though, but as you said, it might be hard for them to get the pieces in. It is a lot safer than using a serrated blade though! ;)

Chestnuts roasted by Christine @ 10/02/2006 9:48 PM

I’m so glad I’m no longer in high school. (Pumpkin-carving was mandatory in my high school for some reason.) Without it being a forced activity I should have fun if I decide to get a pumpkin this year.

Chestnuts roasted by Katherine @ 10/02/2006 9:55 PM

OK, I know now that non-carving of a pumkin is sacriligious. What is your opinion on the use of stencils to obtain one of these cool, Roseanne Halloween Episode-esque, type of actual pictures on them. I can basically make a stencil out of anything using photoshop, and actually carved a decent rendition of Michael Myers into a pumpkin last year. Am I a Halloween whore, or is this just the next evolution in carving?

Chestnuts roasted by Old E @ 10/02/2006 9:59 PM

wow spare parts seems like kind of a cop out to the messy horrible smelling gloopy mess that is taking out the insides of a pumpkin.

Chestnuts roasted by danny @ 10/02/2006 9:59 PM

Sorry, Old E, you’re just a whore.

Chestnuts roasted by Katherine @ 10/02/2006 10:02 PM

The fact that they now have official CUPS makes me all the more upset that I can’t get that drink here….

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 10/02/2006 10:04 PM

I don’t mind the stencils too much, so long as the stencils aren’t good enough to make the pumpkin look super polished. I like ‘em kinda gritty. Baby I like it rough.

Also, on the Dew Freeze front, make sure you look ALL AROUND for it — that includes the cups and the machines. Certain stores hide the Icee machines in the back of the cafeteria away from everything else, as if they’re something to be ashamed of.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 10/02/2006 10:08 PM

When I see the pumpkin with the spare parts in it, it just looks really wrong, I’ll stick with jabbing spare parts into a plastic potato, thank you very much!

That sounds nasty taken out of context.

Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 10/02/2006 10:20 PM

I like being jabbed with plastic body parts.

Chestnuts roasted by Mystie @ 10/02/2006 10:29 PM

We JUST got these at the Target by my house on Saturday. I’m sick, but I’m still drinking the hell out of these things.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt2 @ 10/02/2006 10:30 PM

My mom got me a Darth Tater the other day at a thrift store. Honestly, who gets rid of Darth Tater?

A plague on their house!!!

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/02/2006 10:31 PM

Did you think about just taking a nail and using it to puncture the rine of the pumpkin before you put the face piece on it?

Chestnuts roasted by Ronald MacKinnon @ 10/02/2006 10:34 PM

Extra steps, thumbs down.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 10/02/2006 10:35 PM

I bet it’s because the pumpkin pie candle scent is probably more cinnamon and vanilla than straight pumpkin.
Think I’ll carve a pumpkin this year. I’m getting excited about doing all the stuff I haven’t bothered with since I didn’t get treaters; decorating, buying candy, maybe dressing up. I feel like doing a pumpkin pie from scratch, but my baking record is reasonable but unimpressive.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 10/02/2006 10:37 PM

I like the stensils sometimes, but I hate the little metal pokey thing the books come with. You’re supposed to hold the stensil to the pumpkin & jab along the dotted line. Not only does this take a ridiculous amount of time, but on a more complicated design, I got lost several times last year. :(

I agree with Matt though, ‘rougher’ looking carvings are more… attractive. I’ll never have the problem of a perfectly polished carving. My lines are always ragged, though I’ll blame the knives I use.

Hm. I wonder if my old Mr & Mrs Potato Head parts would work on a pumpkin… If I stabbed the pumpkin first with something roughly the same size, perhaps. I might have to experiment with this!

Chestnuts roasted by christine @ 10/02/2006 10:40 PM

I carved a pumpkin last year, but I was so terrified of coming home and finding it smashed that I didn’t even put it out. I kept it in my house until it started to smell kind of… not funky… but more pumpkin-y? Then I cooked it down and made pumpking juice out of it… hooray for Harry Potter!

Chestnuts roasted by broomstickjockey @ 10/02/2006 10:41 PM

I am way too excited about those cups. If only I had a mantle.

Chestnuts roasted by Ian @ 10/02/2006 10:41 PM

Man, I know how you feel. Work is getting pretty frustrating especially since it never ends when there is a toddler in the house. :)
I haven’t seen these yet but they look pretty cool to me. Maybe your fatigue is tainting them and their legacy will improve with time???

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 10/02/2006 10:50 PM

I’ve never carved a pumpkin. Until last winter, I lived by the beach, and things go bad easily when you’re a (almost literal) stone’s throw from the ocean. Plus, I’m terrible at cutting things. I’d probably end up cutting myself more than the pumpkin.

I’m debating doing a pumpkin for the first time ever on my own this year. Maybe just a small one in the traditional triangle-eyes-and-crooked-mouth design. My mother and sister can do all kinds of crazy, elaborate designs on pumpkins without the use of stencils. You should see the front of my parents’ house at Halloween. I don’t know if the huge witch Mom made is still out there and the “gravestone” made from an old boogie board (really), but for the two weeks or so around Halloween, kids will stop to look at scenes of witches, ghosts, leaves, and haunted houses on orange gourds.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 10/02/2006 10:50 PM

I am so freakin’ craving a pitch black right now. Dammit.

Chestnuts roasted by freudguy @ 10/02/2006 10:53 PM

My dad once showed me how to slice the rind away from the pumpkin to make teeth and eyes, and I hate him for it. It takes extra long, but a pumpkin doesn’t look “right” without them.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt2 @ 10/02/2006 10:55 PM

Still haven’t got me a Pitch Black Freeze, but damnit I will! And they better have those cups or I’ll be pissed.

christine: When you use the stencils, poke the holes kinda close together and then when you take the paper off, use a grease pen or sharpie to connect the lines, so you don’t mess up! :) I love those stencils.

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 10/02/2006 10:57 PM

Everytime I carve a pumpkin, I never bevel the cut for the lid and my lids just fall through. So I end up nailing them on. And the bottoms are never clean as they could be, so I have a lopsided candle trapped inside a sealed container sitting on a wooden deck.

But I’ve always been a firehazard waiting to happen. My mother is a pyrophobe and I’m a pyromaniac.

“Don’t worry mom, everything important is in the fireproof safe. Why have one if you’re not gonna use it, right?”

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 10/02/2006 11:01 PM

You know, I can’t say that I remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. I think it must have been when I was in grade school or junior high. I was too “cool” to carve a pumpkin with my parents when I was in high school. Since they did it mostly to spend time with me, they gave it up after I lost interest. It sort of makes me sad. I think I’m going to carve a pumpkin this year to cheer me up.

Now I just need to find a place to put it. I don’t think I’ll mind when it gets smashed, I just don’t want to be cleaning pumpkin bits out of my grill for the next few months.

I know it will get smashed because the neighborhood has some real asshole kids that went around slashing tires and keying cars. One guy had a real nice custom paint job and it’s going to cost him close to $5,000 to get it fixed. My elderly next door neighbor had two of his tires slashed. He’s a REALLY nice guy, and he just bought a new truck last year, replacing the one he’s had since the early 80s. I would dearly love to break something really important that belongs to the jerk who thinks it’s funny to destroy other peoples’ stuff. By something important I mean a video game console, a cell phone, a leg, whatever.

So now I’ve gone from sad to pissed. If I was only jealous of something I could hit the trifecta of negative emotions in one post.

Chestnuts roasted by spaz307 @ 10/02/2006 11:20 PM

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 9:33 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.