It’s seriously not possible to find a pumpkin carving knife anywhere on the ass-end of Brooklyn, but if you’re willing to do the requisite searching anyway, you may discover things that are both Halloween and Powerpuff-Girls-related, and thus worth all the wandering.

Once you and your accomplice are determined to complete pumpkin carving shenanegins with the (really quite numerous) already available knives, the trick to de-goopifying the truly large pumpkin is, as it turns out, just to get in there with fists and fingernails and maybe even the occasional ice cream scoop. Don’t be alarmed at the sight of your arms disappearing up to the elbow in pumpkin innards. It’s a natural, beautiful expression of your pumpkinlove and nothing to be ashamed of.

Incidentally, white pumkpins are a stroke of genius, even if they are orange about half an inch under the skin. And the resulting masses of toasted pumpkin seeds? Oh baby, don’t let me commence.