Printable Pumpkin Carving Templates: 18 Free Stencils in PDF

Fresh Calendars has 18 free printable pumpkin carving templates below, 8 Easy and 10 Medium, each a one-page US Letter PDF you can print today. Halloween 2026 falls on Saturday, Oct. 31, so there are two evenings left to carve. Pick a design from the tables, or print the complete 19-page pack with a cover sheet that shows all 18 side by side.

We drew every design ourselves for this page. Before publishing, a script rendered each stencil and checked two things that ruin a carved pumpkin: a piece of pumpkin that would fall out because the cuts surround it, and a strip of pumpkin narrower than 1/4 inch holding a larger piece in place. That is why the letters in Boo have gaps and the cat’s whiskers stop short of its mouth. All 18 designs passed at actual size.

The rule on every sheet is the same: cut out the black areas and keep the white. The gray dashed line shows the pumpkin’s edge and stem and is not cut.

Easy pumpkin carving templates

Start here for a first pumpkin or a child’s design. These faces use a few large shapes with plenty of pumpkin between them.

Stencil (PDF)	Level	What you cut out
Classic Jack-o’-Lantern	Easy	Triangle eyes and nose, a wide mouth with three square teeth
Happy Face	Easy	Two round eyes and a smile
Goofy Grin	Easy	One big eye, one small eye, a grin with a single buck tooth
Winking Face	Easy	A triangle eye, a curved wink and a smile
Surprised Face	Easy	Raised eyebrows, tall oval eyes and an O-shaped mouth

The Classic Jack-o’-Lantern is the simplest of the set. Cut the two hanging teeth last so the mouth stays strong while you work.

Cute pumpkin stencils

These suit classrooms, family tables and front porches. The Friendly Ghost is the easiest design on the page: the whole ghost comes out in one piece, and you can draw a face on the leftover pumpkin with a marker.

Stencil (PDF)	Level	What you cut out
Sleepy Face	Medium	Closed eyes, a small smile and two Z’s
Cute Cat Face	Medium	Almond eyes, a nose, a W-shaped mouth and four whiskers
Owl Face	Medium	Two round eyes, a beak and three feather marks
Friendly Ghost	Easy	One ghost shape that comes out in a single piece
Flying Bat	Medium	A bat with scalloped wings

For younger children, these sheets also work as tracing or painting guides on an uncarved pumpkin.

Scary pumpkin carving stencils

The scary designs have more cuts and narrower slots, so all four are labeled Medium. Cut tooth points as two straight cuts that meet, and turn the pumpkin rather than forcing the blade around a corner.

Stencil (PDF)	Level	What you cut out
Jagged Grin	Medium	Slanted eyes and a mouth full of pointed teeth
Vampire Grin	Medium	Narrow eyes and a wide mouth with two fangs
Skull Face	Medium	Round eye sockets, a skull nose and six separate teeth
Zombie Face	Medium	An X eye, a round eye and a stitched mouth

Cat, witch, moon and Boo templates

Silhouettes read well from the street because the light comes through one large shape.

Stencil (PDF)	Level	What you cut out
Black Cat Silhouette	Easy	A sitting cat with a curled tail
Witch Hat	Easy	A pointed hat with a bent tip and a wide brim
Moon and Stars	Medium	A crescent moon and three stars
Boo Letters	Medium	The word Boo in stencil letters with bridges

Want everything at once? The all-in-one pack has a contact sheet of the 18 designs, the steps below and lines for notes, then one design per page.

What size to print for your pumpkin

Each stencil prints about 6 inches wide and 5 1/4 inches tall at 100% (Actual size), measured on the dashed outline. Measure the side of your pumpkin you plan to carve, from one side of the smooth area to the other, and set the print scale from this table. The black bar on each sheet is 2 inches at 100%, so you can check the printout with a ruler.

Width of the area to carve	Print scale	Design size (width × height)	Narrowest bridge
4 inches	67%	4 × 3 1/2 inches	0.17 inch
5 inches	84%	5 × 4 1/2 inches	0.21 inch
6 inches or more	100% (Actual size)	6 × 5 1/4 inches	0.25 inch

Scaling shrinks the bridges along with everything else. For a pumpkin smaller than about 5 inches across, choose an Easy design. On a bigger pumpkin, print at 100% and leave a wider border; scaling up past 100% pushes the design off the edge of a Letter sheet. On a printer, “Fit to page” changes the size, so turn it off when you want the table’s numbers.

How to use a printable pumpkin stencil

1. Print the PDF on US Letter paper at 100% or the scale from the table, and check the 2-inch bar.
2. Have an adult cut the lid. Children can scoop the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
3. Tape the stencil to the smoothest side of the pumpkin. Make a few small folds or cuts in the paper margin so it lies flat on the curve.
4. Poke holes about 1/8 inch apart along every line with a pushpin or poking tool, or trace hard with a ballpoint pen.
5. Take the paper off and join the dots with a washable marker.
6. An adult carves out the black areas, starting with the smallest shapes in the middle of the design.
7. Light it with a battery-operated light or glow stick.

Pumpkin carving safety

Pumpkin carving is the largest single cause of Halloween injuries in estimates from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). In its October 2022 safety release, the agency estimated an annual average of 3,200 Halloween-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments over the previous three years, and said 55% of them were related to pumpkin carving. Its advice is short: “Leave pumpkin carving to the adults.” Child helpers “can grab a spoon and scoop out the inside or use a marker to trace the design.”

The CPSC also recommends battery-operated lights or glow sticks instead of an open-flame candle. If you do use a candle, keep the pumpkin away from curtains, decorations and anything else that can catch fire, and never leave it burning unattended.

Plan the rest of Halloween night

Halloween is on a Saturday this year. Check what time trick-or-treating starts in major cities and the sunset and trick-or-treat times for Oct. 31. Hosting? Our witches’ brew punch recipe comes with a printable party checklist. For the date in future years, see when is Halloween, and plan the week ahead with the November 2026 printable calendar.