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ESC!Webs Site of the Week Week of October 22, 2000 Fun-Kins Main Web Site: http://www.funkins.com If you read the comics you'll undoubtedly remember the classic episode of Peanuts where Linus faints as his sister carves the insides out of their Halloween pumpkin. Or how about the Baby Blues where Zoe becomes attached to the pumpkin they pick out at the farmer's market until they get home and Darryl plunges a knife into the pumpkin to the horror of Zoe. How about the time you spent laboring over an extremely intricate design on this year's pumpkin only to find out that the gourd you so lovingly picked out was more ripe than the others causing your masterpiece to rot prematurely before your eyes? What if you could avoid all that by simply plopping down $29.95 and getting a fully carvable pumpkin look-alike which will never rot and can be used year after year? That's what you can do at MacJac Enterprises Fun-Kin web site. What Are They? Fun-Kins are one-of-a-kind pumpkin look-alikes that can be carved and lit just like the real thing. According to the web site, MacJac Enterprises molds their Fun-Kins from real pumpkins. Each is then hand painted and tinted to look just like the real thing when lit. The Web Site I'm not going to do a sales pitch for Fun-Kins. I really can't. I just came across the site myself and have not actually ordered one, but from what I can tell, they look like a quality product. I would like to talk a little about the site though. If you have never seen it done, you should be aware that some people spend many many many hours carving intricate designs in their pumpkins every year (Remember the closing credits of the old Roseanne Halloween episodes? The ones where they had pumpkins carved to look like her?) In fact, there's even software that can be purchased to help translate scanned photographs into pumpkin stencils (see the link at the bottom of this review). The Fun-Kin web site highlights some of the better designs they have come across. I am constantly amazed at the detail achievable when someone with some artistic ability is handed a pumpkin and a knife! Besides that, some of the more practical things on the site include a short tutorial on becoming a pro-carver (along with some nice comparison shots of real pumpkins vs. Fun-Kins) and a section on how Fun-Kins are made. I also like the "Find the Imposter" page. To tell you the truth I was not able to identify the real from the fake. Granted this was just a photo on the web, but I'd have to say that they look pretty good! What's not to Like? Not much, but as my friend Dave said he'd miss the seeds. You see, every year he goes out and buys 4 or 5 pumpkins and bakes the seeds. They turn out really good. When I used to work with him we always looked forward to him bringing them in every year. I'm afraid you're not gonna get any seeds from these bad boys. Also, unless they're scented (which I don't think they are) I'd miss that smell of fresh pumpkin guts all over the kitchen table each year. I guess I'm just a traditionalist. But, I'd have to say that for anyone who wants to make great center pieces for their tables that won't rot or has that talent for carving those great designs, a Fun-Kin really can't be beat!
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