Miniature pumpkins are cute on their own, but we made them better than ever by adding candles. The festive votives provide an easy, inexpensive way to illuminate a fall centerpiece.

In addition to the miniature pumpkins (photo 1) and votive candles, we used a cordless drill, a 1¹/₂" spade bit, a teaspoon, and a small amount of sand.

To create each pumpkin votive, start by using a drill and a spade bit to make a hole in the top of a mini pumpkin (photo 2). You can purchase spade bits of various sizes at your local home center — find one that's just slightly larger than your candles.

The pumpkin may still have some pulp left inside the drilled hole. Use a teaspoon to easily scoop out the remaining pulp (photo 3).

Next, pour a little sand into the bottom of the hole (photo 4). If you don't have a funnel handy, just use a piece of paper like we did. Now drop in a votive candle (photo 5). Adjust the level of the sand as needed so the candle's top is flush with the top of the hole.

Create a Clever Centerpiece

In addition to the candle votives, miniature pumpkins and a few other gourds provided great starting points for creating a fun fall centerpiece.

We decided to add some height to our fall decor by making candlesticks from gourds. First, we drilled holes all the way through a couple of miniature pumpkins with a ¹/₂" spade bit. Then we used a hot glue gun to attach the miniature pumpkins to the tops of larger upside-down gourds (photo a).

A larger gray gourd became a container for a beautiful fall plant arrangement. To make the "vase," we just carved a hole in the gourd's top with a drywall saw, and then cleaned out the pulp. We arranged a selection of live plants and decorative branches from the craft store inside (photo b).