My favorite holiday has always been Halloween. During elementary school, I would race home on October 1st to begin decorating the one-bedroom apartment my Mom and I shared. It was a harder challenge to transform our apartment into the spooky living quarters this holiday called for than it was the mid-1800's house with the peeling paint and crooked porch we had lived in prior. I did my best though, and my Mom was knocked over with orange, green and black when she returned home after a long day at her secretarial job. Every door would get a hand drawn picture of a jack-o-lantern or cat, ghosts made out of muslin would hang from the tree out front, and bats made out of construction paper would dangle from the diningroom chandelier. The one rule my Mom had was that there couldn't be any pictures or crafts of witches because they actually existed unlike the other fictional characters presented during Halloween. She wanted Halloween in our place to be a celebration of the harvest and not of darkness.
Celebrating the harvest is always better with friends and/or family. My tip is to send out invitations NOW for a get together at your home. It could be a party with hot apple cider, bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, costume contests, and lots and lots of candy...or it could be as simple as a night of Hitchcock films and pumpkin pie. Regardless of the scale, a homemade invitation makes for an old fashioned touch. You can do your own search for vintage Halloween images or you can use some of the 1940's Halloween glamor girls I have posted below, and print as many copies as people you're inviting. Cut the image out, glue it to card stock that can easily be found at Michael's Craft Store, write out the party info and send it off. The time you put into making invitations will most seemingly show off the thought you will be putting into your party, and the result will be more guests and more merry!
