You can also set your kid up at the kitchen table with a pumpkin, a black washable magic marker, and a wet washcloth to do jack o lantern art. And gathering witches burrs and/or spiky horse chestnut shells and sticking them in a bowl is a lot of fun

You can also substitute a whole mandarins for pumpkins and then eat them if your kid is really into it and doesn't want to play etch-a-sketch erase with their artwork (and you don't feel like buying a billion pumpkins that will just rot)