A customer of ours moved to a new neighborhood in the fall. She had her mommy calling cards, complete with contact info and her child’s photo already made (her first wise move), but proved she was a genius when she came up with the brilliant idea of taking them along Trick-or-Treating with her child on Halloween. After all, what other time of year is it acceptable to ring every doorbell in the neighborhood and introduce yourself? When she met someone she wanted to connect with, such as a family with kids her own child’s age or, better yet, a potential babysitter, rather than engage in a long conversation (not possible with a giant ladybug tugging at your sleeve to move on) she dropped off a mommy calling card. It was a great way to say, “I’d like to get to know you.” Kudos to you, Mommy. Our customers are the smartest.

I have a confession to make. I cannot seem to get my act together in time to send a Christmas photo card. Sometimes it’s the lack of a good photo, sometimes it’s the time it takes to compile the recipient list, but in the scramble of holiday shopping, parties, and kids activities, more often than not I miss the chance to send them out before Christmas.

There is hope for me, though. I have discovered another holiday that offers great photo ops for kids and have claimed it for my own—Halloween. Ever since my son was born, I have managed to keep the tradition of sending a Halloween card every year. I seem to have a bit more time then, before the end-of-the-year activities accelerate into high gear. My family and friends enjoy, and now expect, my personalized Halloween photo card the week before Halloween.

We don’t do anything fancy; it’s just the kids in their costumes smiling (sometimes even happily). We have saved one card from every year, and enjoy looking at the progression and remembering how fun or how challenging they were to capture. It’s a great Halloween idea that’s become tradition, which we will continue for as long as possible, until the kids think it’s no longer cool, which will probably be too soon for our liking. For now, we snap the camera gleefully and relish the thought of our kids’ smiling faces on our relatives’ refrigerators for a few months. At least until they’re replaced by someone’s Christmas card.