The crisp fall air has finally arrived! That means one thing around here…it’s pumpkin season! We love to decorate our front porch with pumpkins but it’s nice to have some wee pumpkins indoors too. This white pumpkin centerpiece with mini pumpkin tea lights is the perfect fall decoration to bring autumn vibes to your table.
White pumpkin centerpiece with mini pumpkin tea lights
I put together this white pumpkin centerpiece by making mini pumpkin tea lights and placing them in a dough bowl with some acorns and fall greenery. The mini pumpkin tea lights were made by drilling holes in white mini pumpkins and dropping tea lights into the holes. It’s a very simple DIY that you can do at home in under an hour.
Finding white mini pumpkins and other centerpiece supplies
The pumpkins I used were homegrown, but pumpkins like this are available for purchase in craft stores and sometimes in grocery stores in the fall. Growing your own pumpkins is actually quite easy. Make a note of what kind of pumpkins you’d like to grow and add them to your garden plan for the upcoming season.
The type of mini pumpkins I grew are called ‘Casperita’ pumpkins. There are tons of different kinds of mini pumpkins to choose from.
If you don’t have time to make the pumpkin tea lights, just use plain mini pumpkins in the centerpiece. Use a string of battery-powered LED twinkle lights in the bowl in place of the tea lights.
Take care when selecting your supplies for this white pumpkin centerpiece. We ended up buying a Diablo 1-1/2 inch hole drill bit after drilling out a few of the pumpkins because it has holes in the side. The holes make it easier to remove the bits of pumpkin stem from the drill bit after drilling the hole if the plug stays in the bit. The right tools make the job so much easier!
A 1 1/2″ diameter drill bit will make holes that are just big enough to fit the tea lights snugly (our tea lights were from Ikea). A slightly larger 1 3/4″ diameter bit will make larger holes in which the tea lights will drop down. You’ll be able to see a thin band of the remaining hole around the candle. Choose whichever size will give the look you want.
White pumpkin centerpiece – Supplies
Here are the supplies you’ll need for your own white pumpkin centerpiece with mini pumpkin tea lights:
- Mini pumpkins (I used 3 larger ones for the tea lights and 4 smaller ones as accents)
- Scissors or pruners
- Dough bowl or other long tabletop containers
- Drill
- Hole saw drill bit, a 1 1/2″ or 1 3/4″ diameter (slightly larger than the tea lights)
- Spoon
- Tea lights (real or flameless) – use caution with lit real tea lights
- Antlers, sticks, or other neutral stick-like fall decor items
- Acorn, pinecones, or other natural fall decor pieces
- Fall greenery (leaves or flowers, dried or fresh)
Steps for making this white pumpkin centerpiece
Here’s how to make the white pumpkin centerpiece:
- Wipe the pumpkins with a damp cloth to remove dirt. Allow the pumpkins to dry.
- Use the scissors or pruners to clip the stem off the pumpkins used as tea light holders.
- Use the drill with the hole saw bit to drill a plug out of the top of the tea light pumpkins. Ensure that each pumpkin is secured during the drilling process (especially as the outer ring of the hole saw makes contact). Follow the instructions for the drill.
- Remove the drill from the pumpkin to create a votive holder in the white pumpkin to light the centerpiece.
- If the plug remains in the pumpkin, use a spoon to remove the plug from the pumpkin.
- Remove seeds from the pumpkin. If the tea lights will be used immediately and don’t have to keep for long, remove only a few seeds so that the tea lights sit slightly below the opening of the pumpkin. If the pumpkins are to be used for more than a few days, consider removing all of the seeds and preserving the pumpkin with a diluted bleach solution (instructions here).
- Place a tea light into the pumpkin. If all the seeds have been removed, you may wish to place a tea light holder (or additional tea light tins) under the tea light to hold it up higher.
- Repeat steps 3-7 for the remaining pumpkin tea lights.
- Place the mini pumpkin tea lights in the bowl.
- Place antlers or sticks around the tea lights.
- Use the remaining white mini pumpkins to fill in the spaces. I put my pumpkins in an “S” shape.
- Place acorns or small pinecones around the pumpkins.
- Fill in any remaining spaces with fall greenery.
Ta-da! You’ve got yourself a lovely natural white pumpkin centerpiece with mini pumpkin tea lights. Light the tea lights before dinner and watch your centerpiece light up the autumn table.
