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My niece is two and a half and she colors with the side of the crayon, all of it, like she’s painting a wall. So when I started hunting for pumpkin pages for her I learned fast: big shapes, thick outlines, nothing fussy. The first sheet I tried had thin little vines and she scribbled right over them and looked at me like I’d handed her a tax form.
We do a pumpkin coloring afternoon every year now, usually mid September before it gets busy, at the kitchen table with the good light. I print a stack the night before on the cheap copy paper, not the cardstock, because she presses hard and tears anything heavier than 24 lb anyway. Tape down the corners. Hand her the fat crayons. Walk away from your nice tablecloth.
Below are the ones we used and a couple I bought for my own quiet hour after she’s gone home. Most came from an indie design shop as instant downloads, a few dollars each. Some of these are affiliate links, so if you grab a set I might get a tiny cut. Costs you nothing. Grab the crayons.
Skeletons and pumpkins, the gateway spooky set
This was the first one my niece didn’t reject. The skeletons are round and goofy, not the creepy kind, and they sit next to grinning pumpkins so it reads more friendly-monster than nightmare. She named one Bob.
I printed eight pages of it and we got through three before snack time. The outlines are bold enough that a two year old staying inside the lines is almost possible, which for that age is a small miracle.
One nitpick: a couple of the skeleton pages have tiny rib-bone detail that’s basically pointless for a toddler, they just color the whole chest black. If you’ve got an older kid too, save those pages for them.
Pumpkin monsters with too many eyeballs
Little pumpkins with arms and three eyes and crooked teeth. My sister called them ugly and then asked me to print her a set, so. They’re the good kind of ugly.
These hold up to enthusiastic crayon abuse better than the delicate stuff because the shapes are chunky. I taped one of the finished ones to the fridge with the orange going way outside the lines and honestly it looked better that way.
The pack is big, more pages than one afternoon needs, which I like because I can pull fresh ones out next year without buying again. Just watch that a few of the monsters overlap each other and the little gaps between them are hard for small hands to fill.
The kawaii ones that win over the shy kid
My friend’s son is four and slow to warm up, won’t touch anything that looks remotely scary. These did the trick. Big round eyes, tiny smiles, pumpkins that look like they want a hug.
I ran them off at the library printer one Saturday because mine was out of black ink again, twenty cents a page, worth it. The line work is clean so even at the library’s so-so quality the faces came out sharp.
Downside: they’re so cute that the kids want to keep every single page, so print extra. We ran out and there was a brief negotiation over the last pumpkin that I lost.
More pumpkin monsters, because one pack is never enough
Same energy as the other monster set, slightly different little guys, and yes I bought both because I have no self control in September. These ones have more open space inside each pumpkin, which my niece preferred. Less to color, more wall-painting room.
We did these on a rainy Sunday at the kitchen window where the light’s best. She finished four and declared herself done and went to find the cat.
If I’m picky: a few faces are nearly identical to the first monster pack, so if you only want one, pick by the cover art. You won’t miss much by skipping the second.
The grown-up pumpkin pages for after bedtime
Not for the toddler. These are for me, with a cup of tea, once the small chaos has gone home. Detailed pumpkins, lots of swirls and little patterns, the kind of thing that eats an hour and you don’t notice.
I print these on the 65 lb paper so the fineliners don’t bleed through, and I use the thin Japanese pens, not crayons, obviously. Finished one last October and stuck it on the kitchen window with washi tape and it stayed up till November.
The one catch: the detail is dense, so cheap markers will bleed and smear the thin lines. Worth the upgrade to a decent pen set if you’re going to sit with these.
A stack of stained-glass pumpkins that lasts all season
A hundred and twenty pages is a lot. I will not finish this in one Halloween, or three. But that’s the point, it’s a whole season’s worth and then some, sitting in a folder waiting.
The stained-glass style means every pumpkin is broken into little panels, so when you color them in bright colors and hold one to the window the light comes through like a real glass piece. My partner did one in deep purple and orange and we taped it to the front door window.
For toddlers this is too much, way too many tiny sections. This one’s for the patient older kid or the adult who likes a project. Print a couple, not the whole hundred and twenty, your printer will weep.
Three hundred zombie pin-ups for the grown folks’ table
Okay, this one is firmly not for the kids’ table. Vintage pin-up style but zombie, so retro hair and torn fishnets and the occasional missing arm. I bought it for a Halloween hangout with friends where we put coloring sheets out with the snacks.
Three hundred pages is frankly absurd in the best way. We each grabbed a few, colored badly while talking, and the neighbor got weirdly competitive about shading. Good party fuel.
The line density varies a lot across the set, some pages are simple, some are wild detail, so flip through and hand people pages that match their patience. I gave my friend who hates coloring a simple one and she still complained.
Steampunk zombies if your spooky leans a little weird
Gears, goggles, brass bits, and zombies. It’s a specific taste and I happen to have it. Another three hundred-page monster, so you are never running out.
I like these for the longer movie nights, the ones where everyone’s half watching the screen and half doodling. The mechanical detail gives your hands something to do during the slow parts of the second film.
Same note as the other big set: print on the heavier paper if you’re using markers, because the dense steampunk linework turns to mush under a wet marker on thin copy paper. Learned that the hard way on a goggle.
Spooky-cute pages for the kid who starts early
These have a summer-spooky crossover thing going on, ghosts in sunglasses, that energy, and they work great for the toddler who’s already in Halloween mode in August because her aunt got her hooked.
The shapes are big and friendly and there’s plenty of white space, which is exactly what little hands want. We did these on the back porch in late summer with the fat crayons and a juice box situation that ended in a stain.
Mild gripe: a few pages lean more summer than spooky, so if you specifically want pumpkin-heavy, you’ll be skipping maybe a third of the set. Still a good buy for the price.
Creepy-cute, the sweet spot between scary and sappy
This is the one I’d hand a new parent who wants spooky but not scary. Slightly creepy little characters drawn so cute that nobody under five gets spooked, but they’re not so saccharine that an eight year old rolls her eyes.
I printed a batch for a mixed-age craft afternoon, toddlers and a couple of older cousins, and it was the one pack everyone reached for. Range of difficulty in there, simple faces and busier scenes, so it covered the whole table.
Only thing: the printer ate two pages and fed them through crooked, which is on my printer, not the file. The download itself was clean and printed at full size with no fuss.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does decorating fall under cis?
I think this one’s a search engine mixing up a few things, but if you’re asking whether you can deduct or claim decorating as a business cost, that’s a question for someone with an accounting license, not a crafter who taped a ghost to her mantel. For home use, printable coloring pages are just a few dollars you spend because it’s fun. No paperwork.
What is fall decor?
For me it’s the stuff that makes the house feel like sweater season started early. Pumpkins on the porch, a printed banner on the mantel, colored pages from the kids taped up on the fridge.
A lot of mine starts as a printable I run off at home, slide into a frame I already own, and put out. Cheap, fast, and you can swap it out the second November shows up.
What is thanksgiving free printable?
It’s usually a coloring page or a little sign someone offers for free download around late November, turkeys and leaves and gratitude lists. Handy for keeping kids busy at the grown-up dinner.
The sets I’ve linked here are paid, but they’re the pumpkin-and-spooky kind for October. If you want the free Thanksgiving stuff, a quick search the week of the holiday turns up plenty.
Can I print these at home?
Yes, that’s the whole idea. You buy the file, it downloads, you open it and hit print. I do mine on a tired old inkjet that complains constantly and it still works fine.
For toddlers use plain copy paper since they press hard and tear anything heavier. For the detailed adult pages, grab some 65 lb paper so your pens don’t bleed through. Library printer works too if yours is out of ink, which mine always is.
Before You Print
Every September the kitchen table turns into a crayon disaster zone and I wouldn’t trade it. The pumpkin pages are cheap, the prints are instant, and a two year old coloring a monster entirely orange is the actual point of the season.
So print a stack, tape down the corners, and let her go outside the lines. My niece did one last year that was just a solid orange blob with two dots, and it’s still on my fridge.