Vintage Halloween Greeting Card - Children & Jack O'Lantern

What exactly is happening at that table? Two children intensely focused on what appears to be bobbing for apples — a game that requires you to submerge your face in a communal tub of water and was somehow considered festive. The leering jack-o-lantern perched at the bottom gazes upward with the smug energy of someone who knows exactly what's going on. The card's border is decorated with white leaf or floral cutouts and tiny bats, because apparently the best way to express 'warm seasonal greetings' is by adorning your correspondence with vermin. The child in the foreground wears a dramatic red bow at the neck and is leaning in with an intensity that suggests this apple-bobbing situation has become deeply personal. 'Best Hallowe'en Wishes,' reads the bottom, with the charming Victorian affectation of hyphenating 'Hallowe'en' — a punctuation choice that is, frankly, the least unsettling thing about this card.