Halloween Party Invitations & Cards

Put a Halloween spin on a simple invitation by turning a ribbon tie into a frightfully fun bat. Print the invitation text onto vellum, leaving room at the top for the ribbon tie. Cut a piece of patterned paper slightly larger than the vellum, layer the pieces, and punch two holes through both layers near the top with a standard-size hole punch. Feed wide black ribbon through the holes from the front, cross the ribbon in the back, and bring the ends back through opposite holes toward the front. Trim the ribbon ends at an angle and add googly eyes to transform the ribbon into a flapping personality.

Transform a standard jewelry gift box into a light-hearted resting place for a Halloween party invitation. First paint the box and lid black, then adhere foam letter stickers to the lid to spell out "RIP." Line the box interior with red felt. Print the invitation text onto white card stock; cut the card stock so that the invitation will fit inside the box. When designing the invitation text, leave room for a googly-eyed bat, which you can construct from card stock circles and triangles and mount with adhesive foam. Lightly rub black paint along the invitation edges, then glue the invitation to the inside of the box.

Invite all the ghosts and ghouls in the neighborhood to your Halloween gathering with this monstrously easy invite. First, fold a piece of card stock in half to form the base of the card. Leaving one edge straight, trim a piece of patterned paper with decorative-edge scissors into a rounded rectangle; attach it to the card base. Print the words "Monster Bash" onto card stock, trim the words into a narrow strip, and add a small googly eye over the "o." Attach the strip near the bottom of the card. Attach a large googly eye to the center of the rounded rectangle to complete your one-eye creature.

Don't be scared off by homemade Halloween invitations. This supereasy card uses cotton balls and a large card-stock circle to create an eerie full-moon scene. Print your party details onto gold card stock and use a large circle template or circle cutter to cut out the full-moon shape. Attach the circle to a patterned-paper card base; attach the patterned paper to a piece of black card stock, cut slightly larger than the patterned paper. Adhere pulled-apart cotton balls to the card for the clouds.

A ribbon-wrapped rectangle makes for an irresistible mummy on the front of this Halloween invitation. To make the mummy, glue two googly eyes to the top half of a white card-stock rectangle, then wrap white ribbon around the card stock so the eyes peek through a gap. Distress the edges of the rectangle and a separate piece of white ribbon with light brown ink. Handwrite the party specifics onto the separate ribbon piece, then attach the ribbon end to the back of the mummy before attaching the mummy to the orange card base. Use letter stickers to spell out the greeting. Attach the card to a piece of card stock slightly larger than the orange base; trim the edges with decorative-edge scissors.

Sweeten your Halloween fun with a candy corn banner crafted from punched triangles. To create the candy stripes, divide the height of a triangle punch in thirds, then cut three strips (one each of yellow, orange, and white) at the calculated height and at the same width as a piece of printer paper. Adhere the strips to the bottom of the printer paper without overlapping the pieces, placing the white card stock first so that when punched with a triangle punch, the white will be at the point. Punch five triangles from the strips and adhere them on a folded purple card-stock base, arranging the pieces like a banner. Tie white string through a punched hole at each end and add a letter sticker greeting to the card base.

You can craft this cute invite using paper scraps. To make Dracula, cut a circle from both black and light blue card stock, then trim the black circle to mimic Dracula's hair; attach the hair to the top of the blue circle. Create the facial features with googly eyes and a small punched light blue circle for the nose; hand-draw the smile and add small white triangles for the fangs. Print the greeting onto two colors of card stock and attach the pieces to a card base cut and folded to fit in a business-size envelope.

Even the kids can help put their stamp on this family-friendly invite. Trim a piece of black card stock to the desired card size with rounded corners and attach it to a slightly larger colored card-stock card base with rounded corners. Brush white paint onto your kids' fingertips, then press their fingertips onto the black card stock in sets of two; let dry. Draw on pupils with black marker. Finish the card with a letter-sticker greeting.

Use a child's spiral-drawing toy -- or better yet, let your child use the toy -- to draw a silvery spiral web on dark card stock for the front of this card. Trim the drawn shape into a rectangle, mount it onto patterned papers, and draw a straight line from the center of the spiral to the bottom of the rectangle. Adhere a plastic spider to the bottom of the line and add a greeting cut into small strips and inked along the edges.

The ghost on the front of this card is actually a child's footprint in disguise! Paint the bottom of a young child's foot with white paint, then help her press the paint onto a piece of blue card stock, being careful to not smear the print; let dry. Draw eyes and a mouth onto the print using a black marker. Trim the print into a rounded rectangle, mount it onto a slightly larger rounded card-stock base, and add printed strips of paper for the greeting.

Share your Halloween memories on a photo card spun with webbed detail. Mat your favorite snapshot on black card stock trimmed with decorative-edge scissors, then wrap white or silver thread around the corners, taping the ends to the back. Attach the matted photo to a folded piece of card stock, and spell out "Boo" beneath the photo with a letter sticker and two googly eyes.

Before your kids pop a leftover piece of bubble wrap, they'll love using it to make this simple, whimsical card. Brush purple paint onto the raised areas of a small piece of bubble wrap, leaving one bubble unpainted. Use a small paintbrush to paint the last bubble black, then turn the bubble wrap over and stamp it onto a piece of light purple card stock. Remove the wrap and allow the paint to dry. Trim the card stock into a small rectangle, then use a fine-tip black pen to draw a line from the top to the black dot; then use it to draw eight short black lines for spider legs. Glue two small googly eyes onto the top half of the black dot. Mount the card stock on a folded card-stock base, and add a greeting printed and cut from another piece of card stock.

I'll get you, my pretty, and "witch" you a Happy Halloween too! Cut out the witch hat, head, and body pieces from card stock and attach them to a light purple card-stock background. Attach the hat with adhesive foam, leaving room for short strands of green embroidery floss "hair." Then glue the witch block, a small photo, and a printed greeting to a folded card-stock base.

This simple jack-o'-lantern card leaves room for all kinds of possibilities. Give kids a rounded square card-stock base and let them embellish it with their own cutouts or punched shapes for the face.

Tap into the possibilities of dried-up white school glue to craft the transparent ghost used at the bottom of this photo card. To make it, draw a ghost shape onto waxed paper, then fill in the design with white glue; let dry. Cut out the shape, lay it onto a paper with a computer-printed greeting, and punch two small holes in both the ghost's head the paper with the computer-printed greeting. To attach the ghost to that paper, insert a black brad through each hole. Adhere the ghost section and a photo onto a large piece of card stock.

Copyright © 2009 Meredith Corporation