When I saw the title of this book I bust out laughing. It was kind of like seeing the adverts for "Snakes on A Plane"; the title gives away everything. It falls in line with "Killer Behind The Door" and "The Butler Did It"; it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. That's this book in a nutshell. It's stickers that you can use to decorate a pumpkin. Sure, you can use them for other things but they are made for pumpkins and other seasonal gourds. Dover Publications puts out a lot of very cool seasonal books and there are a ton for Halloween. This one isn't something that I'd buy again but it was fun to use to decorate one of the rather odd shaped pumpkins that we got when we visited Grove City and bought our pumpkins. It was fun but it wasn't something that could be reused and some of the designs were, well, a little dated and out of style.

Decorate A Pumpkin Sticker Book

This is a smaller book [4x6] from Dover and it only has four pages; there are a total of 34 stickers but that is a little misleading. That includes eyes, ears and other body parts so the overall selection of what you can use is a little on the limited side. The stickers come out of the book easily and don't rip or tear in the process. When you are pressing them on to a pumpkin or gourd you do have to use a little bit of pressure because of the texture of the surface. We didn't have any problems using the stickers on the large but rather bizarrely shaped pumpkin that served as out guinea pig but I can see how these would fall off of something if they weren't pressed firmly into place. This has a suggested retail price of $1.50 but it might not be something that you will come across at your local book store so ordering on line might be the easiest way to go.

What do you get with the book? There is a large pumpkin inside the book that you can decorate with the stickers if you don’t want to use them on a pumpkin. The stickers are cute but they are a little on the goofy side; something that would have been cool twenty years ago but now it just looks outdated. You get the usual facial stickers like googley [not a real word] eyes, pointed ears, a few smiles and one large grin with some missing teeth. All of the stickers are facial in theme; after all, rarely do you see a pumpkin with arms or legs. Since these are being placed flat on the pumpkin they will give it a somewhat odd look. If you want to have some fun with the four different noses in the book, try putting a small crease in them before you remove them from the backing sheet; when you apply it to the pumpkin it will have a small dent in it and give it a little bit of dimension and shape.

The only stickers that we had any trouble removing from the pages were the ears; for what ever reason they didn't seem like they were cut properly so there were a couple very tiny rips but nothing that was noticeable when they were pressed on to the pumpkin. Finding the right spot got the stickers can be a little tricky; none of them are all that large except for the smiles but you do have to do a little planning if you want it to look symmetrical when you are done with it. If you don't want to buy a pumpkin you can use the one that is on the inside cover or make your own. These stickers can also be used for arts and craft projects and to decorate other things with a Halloween theme.

Who would I recommend this book to? Anyone that is still experiencing warm weather could use this as an alternative to carving a pumpkin and having it start to decay; likewise it is can be used to keep insects and bugs to a minimum. Because you aren't carving the pumpkin you eliminate a lot of work. This is a great book to have around for kids too; they can pick out the different parts for the pumpkin and with a little help from mom or dad, apply them to decorate their very own pumpkin without ever having to pick up a knife or marker to get the job done. While the stickers aren't reusable they are of a higher quality than I expected; that doesn’t mean that they look awesome, just that they aren't some "lick and stick" type of product.

The Bottom Line

For $1.50 this is a nice way to add some detail to your pumpkin and it's great if you want to have one sitting on the steps but don’t want to have to drag it in the house every morning for fear that it will start decomposing in the afternoon sun. Yes, the images on the stickers do seem to be a bit dated but so far none of the kids that have used them on pumpkins have complained. Dover has a couple of really cute Halloween sticker books so if you try this one out and like it, there are other titles available. This is classified as a juvenile book but it is something that kids and adults can have a little bit of fun with providing that you know going into it that the designs aren't all that 'cool'. This is a lot cheaper than some of the pumpkin stocker kits I have seen in stores the past few weeks and if they are only going to end up getting tossed in the trash when Halloween is over, why spend five or six times the money when you don't have to.


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2007 Freak369


Other Halloween books from Dover
Halloween Fun Activity Book
Halloween Tattoo Art
Little Halloween Activity Book
Halloween Fingernail Tattoos

Let's Celebrate Halloween
The Pumpkin Fair
The Halloween Book
Crafts For Halloween

Cool Ghouls, Spooky Snacks, Wicked Windows, Creepy Coffins, Evil Embellishments:
Planning The Perfect Halloween Party


Recommended: Yes