Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns

Last week the kids and I checked out a new to Colorado Halloween experience: Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns! 

Imagine 5,000 hand carved jack o'lanterns and pumpkin sculptures glowing in a beautifully lit garden setting as spooky music fills the air. Sounds like a Halloween dream, right? Well, it's a dream come true and you can experience it all at Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns. 

Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns makes it's Colorado debut this year at Hudson Gardens & Event Center in Littleton, just south of Denver. It's a wonderful family friendly event to add a little color and magic to the spooky season and definitely one you need to check out for yourself if you're in Colorado.

Let's take a look...

As you can see, the pumpkins and jack o'lanterns on display are absolutely stunning. There's a huge variety of themes among the displays including beloved movie characters, sports stars, famous artworks, animals, vehicles, and even a carnival. 

One of my favorites was the Dia de Muertos display near the entrance. Beautifully carved pumpkins form Ofrendas with intricately decorated calaveras, flowers, candles and even a skeleton. The colors are bright and joyful.

Across from the Ofrendas we found a row of jack o'lanterns that were carved far more intricately than the classic jack o'lantern face. These stunning pumpkins feature characters, actors, sports stars, royalty,  and art works. Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice were both favorites with the kids and I.

The Harry Potter display was definitely a hit with the kids. We saw Harry himself in a pumpkin portrait, the Hogwarts Express and giant basilisk made of pumpkins, jack o'lanterns featuring professors, and jack o'lantern lanterns (ha!) lighting up a castle wall. 

Some of my favorite displays were the pumpkin art works. Classic paintings such as the Mona Lisa, Guernica, Starry Night, American Gothic and The Scream are made up of pumpkins stacked on top of each other. The detail is amazing and I can only imagine the amount of work that must have gone into carving these.

There are plenty of animals on display with real, extinct and mythical creatures included. We saw dinosaurs, sea creatures, dragons, penguins, creepy crawlies, butterflies, and even some aliens. It was like a glowing zoo - a really odd glowing zoo!

 

The carnival scene was definitely a highlight with its glowing ferris wheel which can be seen from all over the gardens. From a distance we had wondered if it was indeed a real ferris wheel that we could ride, but as we got closer we realized that the passenger cars were actually all pumpkins! I loved the way that the ferris wheel glowed on the surface of the large pond in the middle of the gardens. 

Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns features food and drink concession stands as well as stands selling memorabilia and fun light up toys and decorations. Mathilde chose a pair of glowing devil horns and Lola chose a flashing skull necklace. These definitely made it easier for me to spot the kids in the dark! 

Magic of the Jack O'Lanterns is on display at Hudson Gardens & Convention Center, 6115 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton. The display runs through October 31st 2021.

The display is open Thursdays through Sundays. Hours vary depending on the day, but are generally between 6:30pm and 11pm.  

Tickets must be purchased in advance and they're selling fast. To purchase tickets click here. 

Hudson Gardens is ADA accessible and stroller friendly, however the ground can be a little bumpy in places. 

Portable toilets are available on site including ADA accessible toilets.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit https://magicofthejackolanterns.com/