The (upcoming) great pumpkin carve-off of 2009

Every year, B and I have a pumpkin-carving competition. He's currently in the lead with a few more wins than I over the years (though I think he might have an unfair advantage, as our judges are always neighborhood kids - who are predominantly little girls and who think that B is "dreamy" - but not to be a spoilsport), so I want to do something really cool this year to take home the title.

This year, we're carving pumpkins with a bunch of friends, so I'm sure the creativity and range will be even more interesting (one of our friends once carved a Natty Bo pumpkin to honor the local Baltimore brew) than when it's just B and me. With all that being said, I'm doing a bit of research ahead of time in order to prepare. Here are my front-runners of inspiring pumpkins so far:







Credits: 1: Country Living, 2-4: Martha Stewart, 5-6: Jaimee Rose, 7: also Martha Stewart

You like? Any opinions on which one I should try? Anything cool I'm missing? Please leave a comment - I'd love to hear what you've done.