Chalkboard Pumpkin Centerpiece

Gobble, gobble little turkey. Soon will be Thanksgiving Day!

Let’s talk Thanksgiving decorations. I have a difficult time finding decorations I like that are reasonably priced or that give my home that personal touch. Feeling the same way? Today is your lucky day because I came up with chalkboard painted foam craft pumpkins for centerpiece decorations that will last for years and can be personalized each year. This makes me feel more satisfied than after the Thanksgiving feast!

Percy is dressed up and ready for a turkey dinner.

This idea of Thanksgiving “grateful” pumpkins came to me when I noticed how people write what they are thankful for with permanent marker on real pumpkins. Super cute, but I always feel like the chemicals in the permanent marker would seep into the pumpkin rendering it useless for baking later. Call it paranoia, but I’m not about to take any chances. I thought: You could paint a foam pumpkin with chalkboard paint, decorate it and then each year people in your clan could write what they were thankful for in chalk. This pumpkin could be used annually.

Where do you get chalkboard paint?

When shopping around for chalkboard paint, I decided to purchase paint from the craft store because it came in smaller sized bottles, in a variety of colors, and I could use coupons. They also sell chalkboard paint at home improvement stores, but in much larger quantities and I only need a bit of paint. Also-drum roll please- there is a clear coat chalk paint that will coat any paint or surface and leave it a chalkboard finish. What?! So cool. I tried a couple of paints that were different brands to see how well they covered. I was not disappointed.

Not letting the chalkboard paint from the candlestick craft go to waste, I’m using it on these dollar store pumpkins.

What can you make with foam craft pumpkins?

I actually made two projects with chalkboard paint and foam pumpkins. Smaller foam pumpkins (from the dollar store) were turned into place setting decorations and a larger foam craft pumpkin became the centerpiece. I used the traditional black chalkboard paint on the smaller pumpkins. First removing the lovely- cough, cough– foliage on top and adding a piece of cut twig from our yard as a stem. Finish it off by adding words like “grateful”, “blessed”, etc. to each painted pumpkin using permanent metallic pens. I spray painted the large pumpkin blue (left over from spraying my front porch chairs) and then used the clear chalkboard paint finish on it. Turned out beautifully!

How can this project be more cost effective?

These projects are not dirt cheap (utilize sales and coupons for best deals), but if you do a pumpkin painting party you could split the cost of painting supplies. The part that will take the longest is waiting for the paint to cure (24 hrs).

Supply List

Foam craft pumpkins (Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, or JoAnn’s have the best selections for large pumpkins and Walmart has the least expensive but less of a selection. I purchased the small pumpkins at the dollar store.)
ArtMinds Chalkboard Paint in Black (8 oz)
Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-surface Chalkboard Clear Finish (6 oz)
Artist’s flat paint brush
Towel, or newspaper to protect your work surface
Whatever saying, or a stencil to decorate
Ball point pen
Faber-Castell PITT artist pens in gold, silver and copper
Metallic paint for stem of large pumpkin (if wanted)
Stick for stems on small pumpkins
Garden clippers
Glue- tacky or hot glue
Chalk
Paper towel

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Instructions:

Step 1:

Either purchase your pumpkin in the desired color, or paint it with a custom color. Let dry completely. I gave my spray painted one a few days to cure, mostly because I was fitting this project in amidst a busy schedule.

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO TO SEE THE PROCESS!!

Step 2.

Paint stem of large pumpkin with metallic paint.

Remove the foliage of the small pumpkins and flip over; the bottom of the pumpkin will become the new top. Just trust me on this.

Remove floral decoration from dollar store pumpkins.

Step 3.

Paint pumpkins with chosen chalkboard finish.

Large pumpkin with the Martha Stewart Multi-surface Chalkboard Clear Finish. Do two coats.

Paint the small ones with the ArtMinds Black Chalkboard Paint. Do two coats. Wait an hour between coats and then 24 hours for the chalkboard surface to cure.

Use chalkboard paint to cover the foam pumpkins.

Tip: I put the large foam pumpkin on the lid or jars of paint that I wasn’t using so that I could paint the most surface area possible without the wet finish sticking to the towel or papers that I put down to protect my work surface.

Tip: Paint bottom half of smaller pumpkins and let dry. Flip over, then paint the remainder of the pumpkins.

Step 4.

Once curing is done, draw on desired pattern, saying, family name or selected phrase with your metallic permanent markers.

For the large pumpkin, I matched my marker color to the stem color. They were both a rose gold metallic. I ended up printing off a phrase I liked and then free handed it on to the pumpkin. It is not perfect, but I am ok with that. You can also do the trace the words and make an indentation trick shown in the video above. Do what makes you happy. give thanks template

For the smaller pumpkins, I printed off words like: Gather, Blessed, Feast, Thankful, etc. Use a ball point pen to trace over the paper onto the pumpkin. Pressing firmly, but gently, the pen will leave an indention in the foam that can be traced with the metallic permanent markers. Small Pumpkin Phrases 1 Small Pumpkin Phrases 2

Trace the phrase onto the pumpkin and then write using the permanent pen.

Step 5.

For the small pumpkins, glue on the cut stick pieces (about a half inch to an inch long) to become the stems of your pumpkins. I used tacky glue, but a hot glue gun would also work.

Cut a piece of twig for the stem and glue on to craft pumpkin.

Step 6.

Once everything is completely dry, lightly cover the pumpkin with chalk to condition the surface. Wipe it off with a paper towel and you are ready to use it as a chalkboard.

Once lettering is dry, condition with chalk and wipe off.

Step 7.

Now go ahead and have each member of the family use the chalk to add what they are thankful for on your chalkboard pumpkin. Use a color that will contrast with the color of your pumpkin. In other words, if your pumpkin is dark then use a light chalk. If your pumpkin is a light color, use a darker chalk.

Place settings are looking festive and classy with these pumpkin decorations.

How fun is that to have your personalized Thanksgiving chalkboard paint pumpkin or as I like to call it, the GIVE THANKS pumpkin, as a centerpiece on your table this year? Even better, how great is it to visually share your gratitude for many years to come? I love seeing the individual chalk scrawls of my boys with words and phrases of things they are grateful for. Hey, I just started a family tradition with this painting craft. That makes me so happy! Spending time with family, having a Thanksgiving table come together with decorations and creating family traditions is what it’s all about. It all contributes to making a house a home.💙