When my kids were young and living at home, I would make a Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween.  I would cut off the top, remove the seeds, scrape the walls thin, carve a face, put in a candle and sit it in a spot so everyone could see all of my hard work.  I was usually lucky if it lasted through Halloween, considering I usually made it around the 1st of October.  But then the kids grew up, moved on, and this little tradition stopped.

One year, a friend brough over her version of a Jack-O-Lantern as a gift to me.  She had done the usual, cut off the top and taken out the seeds, but she didn't scrape the walls nor cut out the face.  Instead ,she drew a face, filled the hole with potting soil and planted pansies inside.  This was the cutest little Jack-O-Lantern I had ever seen.  And it was so easy to make.  This one lasted through the whole month of October and when it was time to take down the Halloween decorations and put up Thanksgiving, I simply dug a hole in the yard and put my pumpkin inside allowing the beautiful pansies to continue to grow.