• A group of creepy Jack-o-lanterns might be considered extreme.Halloween Pumpkins image by Laura Benson from Fotolia.com
  
  Jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins are a big part of Halloween decorating, and while many people stick to decorating pumpkins in traditional ways by carving smiling or scary faces into them, more extreme ways of decorating pumpkins are increasingly popular.
  
  Halloween pumpkin decorations can range from paint techniques to using materials you might not normally associate with pumpkin decorating. Use your imagination to create your own extreme Halloween pumpkin, and make the holiday even more exciting.
  
  

Junk Pumpkin

• Search your garage and junk drawer for bits and pieces that can be used to help decorate your Halloween pumpkin in a way that is different from anyone else's.
  
  Old springs look great sticking out of a pumpkin head like weird hair, and drawer pulls can make interesting ears or facial features. An oil can might make a great hat, as would a small bike or cart wheel. Don't forget to use bolts, nails and screws to make fierce teeth, claws or other features. Many pieces of old hardware can be transformed into a piece of your extreme Halloween Jack-o-lantern, according to Gifts.net.
  
  

Black is the New Orange

• Paint the entire pumpkin black before you carve it. An orange pumpkin that glows from within might be spooky, but put an all black pumpkin on a darkened porch, and then light up a candle inside. Use a few white pumpkins as well to add to the effect. You'll have ghostly white and baleful black Jack-o-lanterns.
  
  Michigan Local News suggests that you clean out your pumpkin before you paint it black. Carve a face into it after the paint dries, then light it up.
  
  

Fabric and Yarn

• Create unusual effects on a Halloween pumpkin by using black felt or yarn and straight pins or hot glue. Matthew Mead's Monster Book of Halloween suggests creating a web-covered pumpkin by crisscrossing black yarn back and forth over your pumpkin. Secure the beginning and end of each piece of yarn with a dot of hot glue. Add a couple of black plastic spiders and your pumpkin is wrapped in a web of darkness.
  
  For another of Mead's pumpkin styles, measure around your pumpkin and cut a piece of black felt long enough to wrap around the pumpkin about 1 1/2 times. Trim it into a snake shape; don't forget to add a slightly triangular head and curl the tail around a bit. Hot glue the snake so it appears to be slithering around the pumpkin. Add two yellow or red beads for eyes by pushing straight pins through them and into the pumpkin, and draw a red tongue on the pumpkin skin with a permanent marker.