# Halloween Party Invite



## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

It's about time I actually shared something on HauntForum, so I though I'd start with a card I designed for my daughter's 7th birthday party in 2007. We held the party in October, so we decided to turn it into a Halloween party for the kids.

I designed this card using a recent photo as reference and originally intended to add the details to the back side. However a colleague helped me come up with the pull-down jaw idea and I was quite pleased with the result.


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## Wraith (Apr 2, 2007)

Very Cool!!!!


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## Creep Cringle (Jun 23, 2009)

Very cool! Bet the kids loved it.


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## sharpobject (May 7, 2008)

fantastic idea !!


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## trishaanne (Aug 20, 2005)

Great idea.


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## schnibblehausen (Feb 4, 2008)

Those look great! Very professional!


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## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

How cool. Looks very professional and I am sure the kids thought they were lots of fun.


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

is it weird that my first thought was "aww how cute." lol. thats awesome!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That is so different and clever! I hope your daughter loved it, too.


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## ELH Erin Loves Halloween (Feb 19, 2009)

That is amazing!! And looks like it was done professionally. GREAT JOB


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

That was such a great idea. Wonderful job on the invite.


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

What a clever design! I'm sure that everybody will love it and your daughter will have a blast!!!


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## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the very kind comments! My daughter loved the card AND the party, and I received several compliments from the parents regarding the card as well. I hope I can top it the next time!


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

Another great job!


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## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

What a neat idea! I love when inspiration hits.  It really does look professional.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

That is a great looking card .
Good idea


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## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks for the extra kudos!


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## Glosang (Feb 20, 2008)

Cute cute cute!!!! Love them...


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## Indyandy (Sep 7, 2005)

How do you make the drop down invites?


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

That's SO cool!


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## Robotparts (Jul 5, 2008)

One of the best Halloween invites ever!!


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## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

Indyandy said:


> How do you make the drop down invites?


Indy, the invite is two pieces, and the lower jaw is duplicated and elongated on the pull-down piece. With an xacto knife, I cut a seam along the edge of the upper jaw and teeth on the main piece and slipped the pull-down piece through it, so that the lower jaw of the pull-down is in front of the main piece.

The hardest part was figuring out the correct fold for the upper portion of the pull-down piece, so that pushed up it would align with the jaw on the main piece (without anything sticking out) and pulled down it would properly display all the information. I just used clear packing tape to attach the top of the pull-down piece to the back of the invite. Once I had a working template the rest were pretty easy to do - just a lot of trimming with the xacto blade!

I created the artwork in Freehand, which is long since gone from the graphics software world. But I still love it after many years of using it, so I keep it on my system.

If I can find a photo of the back side, I'll post it for you.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Any ideas on a graphics software package that is easy to use and versitile? I am just getting back to doing graphic design (after decades off) and am very uninformed of what's out there, what's good, etc. I don't do much with photos, but more stuff like you made there. Thanks.


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## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

Hi Debbie, for page layout you might take a look at Adobe InDesign. I haven't used it as much, but people tell me it kind of picks up where PageMaker left off. For illustration, some people really like CorelDraw while the industry standard is Illustrator. I preferred Freehand's interface to Illustrator, but unfortunately Adobe bought Freehand and killed it. Don't write off PhotoShop completely - even if you don't do much with photos it can be a very handy software package for image and text effects. I used it to adjust and resize my daughter's image before sticking it in Freehand to use as a template/reference for this invite. Programs like Quark Xpress are way overkill for you unless your making a big catalog or magazine.

These packages can get a bit pricey, but I'm sure someone might be able to suggest some cheaper alternatives as well. Another suggestion would be to take a college course, get a student ID and buy a student version of the software which is often a full version at a greatly reduced rate. The caviat is that you're not supposed to produce any paid professional work using a student version.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Can you please show a pick of the card's back side?
And thanks very much for the info. After seeing this card & Love Manor's labels, I am heavy on the coveting...


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