Totally Awesome DIY Pumpkin Keg

After Jaclyn, my partner-in-crime here at the office, discovered a watermelon keg this past summer, I knew we had to recreate the project as soon as humanly possible, which we did.

As expected, it was brilliant. So brilliant, we wished we could find watermelons all year long and make watermelon kegs until we couldn't possibly bear it anymore! Since that was out of the question, we got creative.

This scene-stealing DIY fall party project of ours is the perfect example of why I love my job. There are few people who get to go to work and craft a DIY pumpkin keg, but I do! And that makes me smile. Luckily, we're not about keeping such secrets to ourselves here at Celebrations.com, so we're sharing our pumpkin keg how-to with you in the video above and with the directions below.

If you can carve a jack-o-lantern, you're already ahead of the curve!

Supplies:

one large pumpkin

marker or pencil

carving kit

Plastic Spigot (aka tap)

lots of Sam Adams Octoberfest beer

Directions:

Step 1: First, draw a ring around the top of your pumpkin. This will be your guide to carve the lid. Try to keep this pretty close to the top of the pumpkin so you optimize the hollowed out space that will hold the beer.

Step 2: Once that's done, carve it! If you're sans carving kit you can use a serrated knife. Whatever your tool of choice, poke it in at an angle and work your way around the ring.

Step 3: Pop the lid off once you've gone all the way around and clean out your pumpkin. Make sure you get all the seeds out and most of the pulp, but don't worry if some of that's left behind since it's responsible for flavoring the beer.

Step 4: Now, find the spot where you want to place your spigot. Using your pencil or marker, trace around the rim once you've decided upon the spot. Cutting the hole here will require a pretty fine serrated knife, so the carving kit proves really worthwhile at this point.

Make the hole as clean cut as possible, then pop in your spigot. If your pumpkin is as thick as ours was you'll have to thin out the pumpkin's inner wall to fit the spigot properly. Don't be afraid to dig in - the pumpkin can take it.

Step 5: Once your spigot is secured, you're ready to go! Pour in your Sam Adam's Octoberfest (because that IS the official beer of fall as far as we're concerned) and pop the lid back on your pumpkin.

Step 6: Celebrate fall and all your hard work with a cold brew from your pumpkin keg!