I was wanting to do a fun and easy fall centerpiece that wouldn't be costly and it hit me. I always clean my pumpkins really well to last through the season and thought what if I did the same thing with a carved pumpkin and turned it into a vase for a fall centerpiece?

And so I did it! And it was successful! It lasted 8 days without any issues and I am pretty sure it would have lasted longer, but my florals were ready to be done.

It was truly the easiest thing and I am so glad I tried it.

First, the most important thing, you need a pumpkin. I got a cinderella pumpkin from Trader Joes and soaked it in bleach water for about an hour. I did a tablespoon of bleach for every gallon of water. Then I rinsed it off and gave it a good scrub with dish soap {FYI bleach and dish soap can be a bad combo if your dish soap contains ammonia. I use Mrs. Meyers dish soap which is ammonia free}. I've been doing this process with my pumpkins for years and it helps them last through the season.

Next comes the hardest part...carving the pumpkin and cleaning out all the guts.

Once I got it all nice and cleaned out, I wiped the rim and about 2 inches into the pumpkin with bleach to try and help preserve the pumpkin longer.

And then the fun part, arranging your florals. I filled the pumpkin with ice water and had fun with the florals. {Fun fact: I used to hate arranging florals and over the past year, it has become so therapeutic for me}.

There you have it. It is that simple. Each day over the course of the 8 days, I would check on the pumpkin to make sure it was doing well and would replenish the ice water. And like I said earlier, the pumpkin definitely would have lasted longer with a new bunch of florals.

Try it, you won't regret it!