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View all stencils →About this stencil
A side-view football helmet formed by two big cut-through openings: the main shell shape and a lower slot separated by the face mask bars, which remain as strips of intact rind. The glowing negative space does all the work of drawing the helmet. Cut the large shell opening first, then the smaller mask slots, supporting each thin bar with your free hand as the saw passes beside it. This design is rated Beginner-friendly and takes most carvers around 30 minutes from trace to glow. Great for kids and first-timers. Big shapes, short cuts.
Pumpkin size guide
- 🎃 Small (5–7") — print at 80%
- 🎃 Medium (7–10") — print at 100% (recommended)
- 🎃 Large (11–13") — print at 130%
- 🎃 Giant (14"+) — print at 150% on tabloid paper
Frequently asked questions
Can I resize this stencil?▾
Yes. The PDF is vector so it scales cleanly. Print at 100% for a 7–10 inch pumpkin, 130% for 11–13 inch, or 150% for a giant. Use your printer's "Fit to page" or "Custom scale" setting.
What kind of paper works best?▾
Standard 20 lb letter or A4 printer paper is fine. Heavier paper is harder to bend around the pumpkin curve. If your printer supports it, set the quality to 'best' so the lines are crisp.
How long will the carved pumpkin last?▾
Usually 5–10 days. Coat all cut surfaces with petroleum jelly and store the pumpkin somewhere cool overnight. Avoid direct sun. Battery LED pumpkin lights produce no heat and double the lifespan.
Can I sell pumpkins carved with this stencil?▾
Yes, the carved pumpkin you make is yours. The license covers personal and small-scale commercial carving (selling carved pumpkins, photographing them, posting on social). You may not resell the PDF file itself.
What if my printer doesn't print the whole stencil?▾
Set 'Page scaling' to 'Fit' in the print dialog and uncheck 'Auto-rotate'. If it still cuts off, the design includes 0.25" of safe-area margin so a small crop won't ruin it.
How to carve this stencil
- 1Print it
Download the PDF and print at 100% scale on letter or A4 paper.
- 2Prep the pumpkin
Cut the lid at an angle, scoop the guts, thin the wall to ~1 inch.
- 3Tape it on
Snip darts in the paper so it lies flat against the curve.
- 4Transfer the design
Poke along every line — about one dot every 1/8 inch.
- 5Carve it
Connect the dots with short straight cuts. Center first, work outward.
- 6Light it up
Drop in a battery LED pumpkin light and you're done.
Tools you'll need
For a beginner-friendly carve like this you'll want a paring knife, spoon / scoop, marker, and led pumpkin light. Here's the kit we reach for — start with whatever you already own.
Elmchee Pumpkin Carving Kit
13-piece kit with carrying case
Saws for the larger cutouts, plus a scoop for hollowing. Covers both jobs in one kit.
View on Amazon ↗
HOME MOST LED Pumpkin Lights
4-pack, battery operated, with remote + timer
Orange glow made for jack-o'-lanterns. The remote and timer light the pumpkin every evening without reaching inside.
View on Amazon ↗
Speedball 4131 Lino Cutter Set
Handle + 5 interchangeable cutters
Interchangeable cutters for peeling and shading the face. Useful for the finer details.
View on Amazon ↗
Community Pumpkin Carving Ideas
Carving ideas that use stencils like this one.
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AdvancedDiagonal Football & Five Laces
A football tilts diagonally across the whole face of the pumpkin, its two end panels and center field pierced through while a thin seam line and five lace bars stay attached as shell. Those slender laces are what push this into hard territory, so cut away from each lace bar rather than toward it and leave the bars for last. The glow through the big panels makes the dark laces pop.
IntermediateFootball & Seven Laces
A big textured football fills the pumpkin face, with two end stripes and a center lace strip of seven crossing laces left in pale relief. This is a shading design: the ball's pebbled leather area is shaved to mid-depth while the laces, stripes, and outline are scraped lighter so they pop. At medium difficulty, dab the shaved leather zone with a rounded tool to build that pebble texture, keeping the lace lines crisp and untouched.
AdvancedGolf Iron with Dimpled Ball
A classic golf iron leans behind a dimpled ball sitting in a tuft of rough grass, all done in skin-shave shading with no pierced openings. The club face grooves, ball dimples, and grass blades are etched at varying depths so each element glows in its own warm tone. Score your outlines first, then shave between them; the fine groove and dimple details reward a light touch.
IntermediateFive Glowing Soccer Panels
A full soccer ball fills the pumpkin's face, with a dark pentagon at its center surrounded by glowing hexagonal panels and a bright outer ring. The panels are shaved down to the flesh rather than pierced, so the seam lines and center pentagon stay as raised skin while the shaved sections glow softly. For this medium shading design, score every seam line first, then peel each panel with a flat gouge, keeping depth even so all the panels light up uniformly.
IntermediateSeven-Panel Soccer Ball Glow
A full soccer ball built from a honeycomb of hexagons and pentagons filling a big circle on the pumpkin face. Nothing is pierced; you shave the skin off the light panels and leave the dark pentagons and seam lines in raw rind, so the ball reads clearly by day and glows softly by night. Shave each panel to the same shallow depth for an even, ball-like sheen.
AdvancedGolf Iron, Ball & Grass
A golf iron sweeps diagonally across the pumpkin toward a dimpled ball perched on a tee, with tufts of grass sprouting along the bottom edge. The clubhead grooves, ball dimples, and grass blades are all shaved into the skin at different depths, so the scene glows in layers without a single pierced hole. Shave the big shapes first, then come back with a detail tool for the grooves and dimples.