A very spooky Cacti-Lantern on my buddy's front porch

Here is a quick and simple Halloween tip for you.  This year, instead of heading to the grocery store to buy a pumpkin to carve, head out to the garden and harvest a few cactus pads.  You can quickly turn these unassuming cactus pads into a wide variety of very scary faces that are every bit as fun to make, and just as frightening  as their pumpkin based cousins.  Cacti-Lanterns are a cute, clever, easy and oh so spooky way to spice up your Halloween decorations.

Cacti-Lanterns are jack-o-lanterns made with the pads of the thornless prickly pear cactus.  They are much easier to make than the pumpkin based jack-o-lantern.  Simply pull a nopal (that is the actual Spanish name for the pads on the cactus) from your thornless prickly pear.  Carve your scary face into the nopal and then stick it toward the front of a one gallon pot or planter.  After you have watered it in, stick a candle in the dirt behind the nopal and light it.  That’s it! 

In my opinion, Cacti-Lanterns are superior to the regular pumpkin based type for several reasons.  Number one, they are basically free.  Who doesn’t have a cactus or two in their yard.  Second, there is very little mess associated with cactus carving.  No pumpkin “guts” to scrape out and dispose of. And finally, after you are through with your Cacti-Lantern, keep watering it and it will grow you another cactus.

Unlike pumpkins, your Cacti-Lantern can be used from year to year. Just keep watering it in the pot and it will grow into a healthy, yet "holy" cacti.

I got this idea from my botanical brother Morgan McBride.  Like so many other things, Cacti-Lanterns were born of necessity.  He forgot to bring home pumpkins for the kids to carve.  So, in order to avoid a lot of tears from his kids, he quickly figured out this very clever way to re-use what he had in a way that made him, the wife and the kids all happy. 

If you have access to a thornless prickly pear, why not give this a try.  The Cacti-Lantern is just as much fun to make as a traditional jack-o-lantern and it is just as scary.  Plus, there is no real clean up required and your Cacti-Lantern will eventually turn into another plant.  What do you have to lose?