Sadly, the sparkly white ghost has gotten
dingy with age.
Date: Unknown (early 1990s)
Original Price: $1.00
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Happy Halloween!
If memory serves, I bought this card at JJ’s Hallmark on King Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. (It’s now Anthropologie.) I was probably feeling a bit wistful as I browsed, reflecting that Halloween was coming and I likely wouldn’t have anything to do (again). This simple card delighted me, so I bought it, just to have. Thus was my little tradition begun. I now have hundreds of cards, picked up a few at a time each year. And while none ever struck quite the same chord, they’ve given me great pleasure, and helped keep the magic alive.
Maker: Hallmark
Friday, October 30, 2020
New to the Collection
When I see the modest prices of the older cards in my collection, I’m amazed recalling how I used to fret over my purchases each year. The fact is, in 1995 twenty-odd dollars spent on Halloween cards really did feel like an extravagance. And there were always so many wonderful examples! I often had to take myself in hand and let some gems go in favor of others.
Those days are gone. Not that there aren’t attractive cards still to be found. But the ingenuity that made so many of my finds irresistible has largely yielded to what I call the School of Accretions. Papyrus is a great exponent of this: cards with “tidbits” stuck all over them, at prices that would make a Vanderbilt blanch. And that’s not even factoring in the extra postage required to mail them. There is no pleasure for me in paying the price of a magazine for a greeting card.
So far this year, I’ve acquired only this card.
Cats are flocked, inside and outside (including the one above the greeting), and their green eyes appear to be slightly reflective. An elegant card—and a bargain at just under $4.00!
Maker: American Greetings
Date: c.2020
Price: $3.99
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Mischief
One aspect of the holiday that, if not entirely forgotten, often seems to get lost is the thrill of taking to the streets Halloween night. It’s not just the costumes or the candy grab, either. It’s the possibility that, on this night, other beings really could be roaming out there. With its starry sky, whirling leaves, and gleeful goblins, this card captures the wonder, the freedom—the pure joy—of trick-or-treating.
Maker: Marcel Schurman
Artist: John Altwies
Date: 1989
Original Price: $1.50
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
The Perfect Halloween Card
It’s so simple, yet everything is there: the idea, the artwork, the atmosphere ...
How can you not smile?
Maker: Recycled Paper Products
Artist: Mary Melcher
Date: 1986
Original Price: $1.50
Comments: Three ghosts, three exclamation marks.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
It’s Magic!
This is known as barrier-grid (or picket fence) animation. You can find explanations of how it’s done on YouTube.
I’ve been wondering if you could create a similar effect for a yard haunt with an actual picket fence ...
Maker: American Greetings/Inventions
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.99
Comments: The back of the card also bears a patent number.
Monday, October 26, 2020
Sinister/Sentiment
High-style art and a haunting verse make for a strong start.
Alas, words and pictures begin to part ways on the second panel and by the third are fully at odds. Where, oh where, are the “happy things”?
Maker: Hallmark
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.97
Comments: It’s a beautiful card. One only wishes the care lavished on the production, including embossing, metallic gold highlights, and white overprinting, had been applied equally to the writing.
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Tête-à-Tête
Halloween—the time when traffic between worlds seen and unseen becomes possible.
Behold an autumnal realm where ladylike gourds with impossibly slender limbs catch up over a cuppa.
Maker: Marcel Schurman
Artist: Patience Brewster
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.25
Comments: Napkins in laps and stylish hat-stems—utterly charming.
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Shadows and Light
It’s nice that in an age of impressive holographic effects (see Oct. 23), there’s still room for something as “analog” as a shadow box.
There’s more here than at first meets the eye—a jack-o-lantern and cemetery, for instance (just visible to the right of the tree). There’s even a keyhole in the gate. 
The message is illogical. A holiday isn’t a flashlight. Why must we “hope” anything, anyway?
Maker: Hallmark
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $4.49
Friday, October 23, 2020
No Special Glasses Needed
The clip doesn’t do this card justice. The large ghost and leaves appear to be hovering a good inch above the surface, even with my thumb right next to them.
The 3-D effect is so striking, I didn’t even notice the lightning effect until I made the video.
Maker: American Greetings/Inventions
Date: Unknown
Original Price: 4.99
Comments: The message inside: “Here’s wishing you a spooktacular Halloween!”
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Crooked Little House
Door and window cut-outs are irresistible. What will we find inside? In this case ...
... winning dilapidation and creepies galore. Exactly what a haunted house should be.
Maker: Marcel Schurman
Upstairs Downstairs Goblins & Ghosts/Hope this Halloween scares you the most!
Artist: Dave W. Higgins
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.25
Comments: Unusual format for a Halloween card. It’s impressive how much the artist has accomplished with such limited “real estate.”
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Hide and Seek
The stylized cats are puzzling. They don’t fit with the main artwork, making me wonder if they weren’t introduced after the fact, to reinforce the “hiding” concept while steering the eye toward the secret message.
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.50
Comments: The “Happy Halloween” message in the quirky font likewise looks like a conceptual latecomer, to help justify the odd cats.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
I See Dead People ...
... and bats! An easel back allows this ingenious snow globe (or is it a crystal ball?)—to stand on its own.
Maker: Hallmark
This is a decent pun.
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.25
Monday, October 19, 2020
Eye Candy
I’m a sucker for silk screening. This print is especially luscious.
Candy corns are outlined in metallic silver. The black background is like velvet.
Maker: Great Arrow Graphics
Artist: Terri Gray
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.75
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Minutes of Fun!
More monsters than you can shake a torch at. The possibilities are ... numerous.
Maker: Sunrise
Artist: Troy Kilgore
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.45
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Great Balls Afire!
Another Horror/Halloween icon. The art reminds me of the old Odd Rods stickers, with a dash of Don Martin of Mad magazine renown.
Not so obvious in this clip: the nuts in question (they’re mounted on a spring) jiggle emphatically.
Maker: American Greetings
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $5.69
Friday, October 16, 2020
Cool Caper
Actually, I don’t think Dracula ever says this in the movie. (At one point he commands Van Helsing to “come here!”) I found a Reddit thread from last year of a couple other people wondering the same thing. Where did this get started?
Anyvay ... cartoonish in the very best sense.
Maker: Gibson
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $1.99
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Spookmobile
Raised black ink on the hearse gives this funny-weird card extra punch. Ditto the skull and pumpkin flourishes in the type.
Maker: Hallmark
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $1.99
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Comin’ at Ya
Another bat attack (see Oct. 12 and 13). Lenticular effects can be hit or miss, often requiring you “hold your jaw just right,” as my Dad used to say, to see the motion without a lot of ghosting. This card gets it right.
Wishing you the happiest Halloween under the moon!
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.99
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
The Chapel of Dr. Caligari
This might be the world’s first German Expressionist Halloween card.
Have a good scare!
It’s a fairly effective pop-up, if simple. On the other hand, the fact that the card only opens halfway is a little disconcerting. Maybe that's intentional. I’m not sure.
A single bat on the back, plus some weirdness.
Maker: Hallmark
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.00
Comments: The mood is right, but several things about this card are “off,” as if it wanted more time on the drawing board.
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Time Warped
This retro silhouette design benefits from rich color and sharp die cutting—both somewhat lost in this picture.
The friendship line is sappy but tolerable. Meanwhile the Roosevelt quote seems to have intruded from another, more sinister dimension. It’s unnerving.
Maker: Carlton Cards
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.59
Comments: The quote raises interesting possibilities, defeated here by flabby thinking overall.
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Be Very Afraid
Another who’s-at-the-door number (see Oct. 9), a little corny maybe, but perfectly executed.
I tend to stay away from cards with sound. Once you get the joke, they can be a bit irritating. In this case, nerve jangling is the gag, and all the funnier when you consider that lo these many (20?) years later the battery still hasn’t died.
Maker: Hallmark
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.95
Comments: Superlative pastel artwork (note the exaggerated perspective), reinforced by the choice of uncoated paper.
Friday, October 9, 2020
Sick, Sick, Sick
And I still laugh, laugh, laugh whenever I revisit this. I wish I could remember where I was living when I bought it (to send to myself—that’s how much I loved it). I didn’t keep the envelope; I hadn’t officially started collecting Halloween cards yet.
My signature looks decidedly quaint here, compared to the current scrawl.
Artist: John Richard Allen
Date: 1984
Price: 90 cents (!)
Comments: The little bluebird even gets decapitated. Priceless.
Thursday, October 8, 2020
Maxine
For a long time, I didn’t know this character had a name—she was just “the jaded bitch” to me and the friend who shared my delight in her unapologetic pissiness.
I’ve never understood what’s going on with the dog, though. Seems damaged somehow.
Maker: Hallmark/Shoebox
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $1.99
Comments: The cat-eye glasses (Maxine normally sports aviators) are an apt detail. Not to mention the inevitable bunny slippers.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Lav-a-Lantern
A clever—and completely novel—use of glow-in-the-dark ink in a Halloween card.
An easel back lets you set this on a desk or bookshelf, just like a real lava lamp. Message inside reads, “It’s Halloween! Just move with the groove and go with the flow!” Time to get that black light out of the attic ...
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $2.49
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Fresh Fish
It’s amazing no one thought of this sooner. (I’m assuming I didn’t miss any Christmas cods and birthday cods along the way.) And yes, I laughed out loud when I first opened it.
Date: Unknown (probably 2018–19)
Original Price: $3.69
Monday, October 5, 2020
Epitaph
Often, the simplest ideas are the ones that best capture the spirit of the holiday.
I laughed
until I died
Maker: Sunrise Greetings/Max & Lucy
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $1.99
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Nothing But Sincerity
(Envelope tagline: “It’s no candy bar, but it’s still sweet.)
A cute reveal—simple, but good for a chuckle.
Date: Unknown
Original Price: $3.79
Comments: Die-cut shape boosts the charm.
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Happy Halloween!
If memory serves, I bought this card at JJ’s Hallmark on King Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. (It’s now Anthropologie.) I was proba...
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If memory serves, I bought this card at JJ’s Hallmark on King Street in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. (It’s now Anthropologie.) I was proba... -
This might be the world’s first German Expressionist Halloween card. Have a good scare! It’s a fairly effective pop-up, if simple. On the... -
For a long time, I didn’t know this character had a name—she was just “the jaded bitch” to me and the friend who shared my delight in her un...