DIY Mermaid Pumpkins

How to make mermaid craft pumpkins for Halloween or birthday parties!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.

My daughter and I have our own special tradition of making our craft Halloween pumpkins in August. We started our tradition a couple of years ago for a few reasons. As a stock photographer, I have to have my holiday themed photos available before the actual holiday season comes around, so I have to do my holiday photoshoots early.

Once my daughter and I did our first round of early Halloween pumpkins, we knew immediately that it was going to become our thing! So we kept the tradition going the following year, again in August before school starts. 

This is because making craft pumpkins takes a few days to complete due to dry time. It’s both a fun kid’s activity to end the summer vacation with and a great way to get a head start on decorating for Halloween and the Fall season!

While a lot of kids and adults like to celebrate the spooky side of Halloween, my daughter prefers the mystical, magical themes like mermaids, unicorns, and fairy tales. So she asked to do these magical DIY Mermaid Pumpkins, and let me tell you, they turned out absolutely gorgeous!

Now for this Halloween project, you can buy a fresh pumpkin from the grocery store, but I’ve found that it is so much easier to work with a craft pumpkin. Plus you don’t have to worry about it rotting away, and you can reuse it every year! I’ve even used our magical themed pumpkins as decorations for my daughter’s birthday parties!

These craft pumpkins can be found at Michael’s, or other craft stores, and usually begin to sell around the end of July (perfect timing, am I right?). These pumpkins are sold in many colors, so you have endless possibilities with what you can do with them. They can also be decorated with paint, glitter, and much more! 

Ready to make the best Halloween pumpkins ever? Then, let’s get started! Here’s how to make DIY Mermaid Pumpkins for Halloween!

Pumpkin Equipment

First, let’s talk about the craft equipment you’ll need for this kid-friendly Halloween project! Not much is needed here at all, just 3 typical crafting tools. Here’s the equipment needed for DIY mermaid craft pumpkins:

• Mermaid tail mold
• Hot glue gun 
• Paint brushes and pallets

Pumpkin Painting Materials

Now let me go over my craft pumpkin materials. There are quite a few materials I used for our pumpkins but you can mix up your decorating materials however you want! Here are the craft materials I used for our mermaid pumpkins:

• 1 Craft Pumpkin
• Shells
• Starfish
• Acrylic paint
• Gold acrylic paint
• Aqua acrylic paint
• Glitter
• Modeling clay
• Glue
• E600 glue
• Rhinestones
• Felt pieces

Optional:

• Kids Painting Aprons
• Gloves

How to Make a DIY Mermaid Pumpkin

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! It’s time to make some crafty Halloween magic happen! This whole process is super fun and easy to do so it’s the perfect family activity for wholesome Halloween fun! Here’s how to make DIY mermaid pumpkins:

1. First, use the paint brushes to paint the craft pumpkin with the aqua paint and let it dry for at least 24 hours.
2. On the same day, take small pieces of the model magic clay and use them to fill in the mermaid tail mold. When the mold is completely full, gently remove the clay. Repeat this process so you can combine the two tail halves to form one full tail later on. Set these aside to dry for 72 hours.
   1. Repeat this process to create however many mermaid tails you would like on your pumpkin.
3. Next, paint the craft shells, starfish, and clay mermaid tails various colors using the acrylic paint.
4. After drying completely, the mermaid tails and craft shells can be accented in glitter. To do this, brush Elmer’s glue onto the surfaces and then immediately sprinkle the wet glue with glitter.
   1. This glitter step can also be done on the painted craft pumpkin.
   2. I like to pour my glue in a small cup to make it easier to dip a brush into.
5. Next, apply the rhinestones down the sides of the pumpkin in decorative lines, using a small dab of the E600 glue on each rhinestone.
   1. I like to use cellophane-wrapped baking sheets to keep this decorating mess contained.
6. Then, glue the mermaid tails, shells, and starfish to the top of the pumpkin using a hot glue gun.
7. Finally, fold the felt pieces into flower-like patterns and hot glue each one to the top of the pumpkin to create a coral effect.

More Halloween and DIY Fun

Loved this simple Halloween activity? Looking for more ways to celebrate Halloween or more DIY’s to keep the kids active throughout the whole year? Then check out some of my fun Halloween recipes and some more of my kid-friendly DIY projects:

More Spooktacular Halloween Fun:

• Skull Halloween Sugar Cookies
• Halloween Party Table Decoration Ideas
• Black Caramel Apples
• Red Caramel Apples
• Orange Caramel Apples

Kid-Friendly DIY Crafts:

• DIY Unicorn Pumpkin
• DIY Toilet Paper Bugs Craft
• DIY Unicorn Party Favor Bags
• DIY Unicorn Birthday Party Favors
• DIY Father’s Day Rocket Card
• DIY Father’s Day French Fries Card
• DIY Gold Painted Easter Eggs

A complete list of my photography equipment