Franken-tines: Adorable Halloween greetings for people you love.

So, I don't necessarily consider myself a huge Halloween person. I do, like many folks, enjoy a good costume party, festive Halloween treats, and watching the old Alfred Hitchcock film, Wait Until Dark. But aside from those pleasantries, I view Halloween largely as a stepping stone to more important holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That being said, I have spent more time over the past two weeks preparing for Halloween than I have in a very, very long time. Possibly ever. No, I haven't done any decorating or even picked out a costume. But what I am sharing with you today has consumed a large, slightly embarrassing amount of my time.

I've always enjoyed making treats for people. I pride myself on my baking skills, and the selfish part of me thrills at all the compliments I get for the treats I make. The unselfish part of me likes to see people happy as they wolf down empty calories before they can help themselves. I have fond memories of the elaborate Christmas-treat trays my mom makes every year. We would bundle up in the car and drive them around to friends and neighbors. Sometimes my dad would slow the car down to around 10 miles per hour, roll down the windows, and blast Christmas music on the radio while we waved to the empty, snowy streets as if we were in a parade. Silly, I know. But we thought it was hilarious. I always secretly thought to myself proudly, "Our treats are better than everyone else's." What a little snot I was. But really, they are beautiful. My mom always has the perfect assortment of chocolate and non-chocolate, the right balance of colorful greens, reds, whites, and neutral fudge-y colors. The treat-making is a highly supervised process which is staggered over several days, with the perfected treats being preserved in the freezer until game-time. The "ugly" treats--whichever ones are too misshapen, slightly burned, or otherwise non-presentable--are usually the ones we eat around the house.

Do you think my family is crazy right now? Well, I like our crazy.

Anyway, I got started thinking about what kind of awesome Halloween treats I could make this year. I really liked the candy-corn sugar cookies I made last year, so I planned on making them again. But, what about presentation? What is a delicious cookie if presented unfashionably? Really, has my mother taught me nothing? As I began brainstorming, I became flooded with clever Halloween puns. (I must also credit best-friend Maggie for helping me with several of these ideas!) And before I knew it, my idea had morphed into something different. I had begun collecting ideas, essentially, of how to say "I love you," Halloween style. The little cards I had begun designing were much like ones you see around Valentines Day. And therefore, as you have by now figured out, I called my little creations Franken-tines! (They were briefly called "Halloween-tines," but made way for a much catchier name.)

Okay, too much talking. I am excited about these. They are fun, and the perfect way to say "Happy Halloween" to co-workers, neighbors, friends, whomever. Save 'em, print 'em, share 'em with all your friends. I hope you like them like I do. Happy Halloween to you!

PRINT ALL 6 HERE:

Notes about printing: right click on the image and hit 'save as.' You can then print the image you have saved to your computer. Make sure you select "full page" and "shrink to fit" when you are preparing to print. Otherwise, the images will get trimmed. We wouldn't want that. :)