Neepie Lantern Howking Workshop, and Competition

Keep checking here for details of the Neepie Lantern Howking Workshop 2026

Come along to the Neepie Lantern Howking Workshop and have fun with like minded friends creating your neepie lantern in time for Halloween and our Neepie Lantern Competition (see below). Bring a vegetable knife and dessert spoon to help howk your creation.

Cost (tbc) per person (includes neep, candle, and string, plus refreshments). Parents are responsible for their children (one per adult please).

The idea is to encourage the tradition of neep lanterns for Halloween in the North-East. Neeps have lost popularity since the introduction of the pumpkin, which thirty years ago was not widely available in the North-East. The neepie lantern was a feature of Halloween, at parties, and guising (not trick or treating which is the fashion nowadays).

Pictured is a neepie lantern creation by Ali Gardiner, winner of the Neepie Lantern Competition 2025.

Neepie Lantern Competition 2026

The Elphinstone Institute Neepie Lantern Competition 2026. When Halloween approaches, get your knives and spoons (yes spoons!) ready, and get howking. When you've carved your masterpiece send a pic of your entry to elphinstone@abdn.ac.uk including your full name and postal address to reach us by 1 November 2026.

Rules are to have a lit lantern with a lid and string.

(Photo by Alison Sharman at Neepie Lantern Workshop 2023)

Get howking and have fun reclaiming a North-East childhood Halloween neep lantern tradition and revive it for future generations.

Prizes for the competition include Elphinstone Institute publications and a mention on social media. Runner up will also receive a prize.

By submitting your entry, you are giving us permission to include the photo in the Elphinstone Institute Archives and to use it online for social media or other similar purposes. You will be credited for any use.

Happy Halloween and Happy Howking!