Upon receiving the reins to make our lobby creepy crawly for Halloween I immediately thought – FOOD. And while my counterparts searched Pinterest for ideas, I reached out to our graphics department to make a facade of stools to set the stage. They looked amazing! Fabulously inviting and from a distance – real! My vision to transfer the front desk into a creepy crawly Diner was coming into fruition!
Next I had to make our restrooms equally impressive. I found both male and female faces that changed from normal too scary depending on the direction you looked at them from the Dollar Tree. They made the perfect coverup for the client restrooms in our Suite.
Next we would need a staff of servers, a cook and a gracious Hostess for our patrons. I chose 5 ft jointed characters from the Dollar Tree. With a few added props, they proved to be the ideal candidates for the job!
Now for the food – what would we serve? I printed out chocolate chip cookies with spiders on them, used whatever fake foods I could find in my basement and purchased a truckload of fake spiders, ants, roaches, snakes, etc (again) from the Dollar Tree. The eyeball gum balls (also found at the Dollar Tree) in the red basket (below) were the only thing actually edible!
After adding a few finishing touches, (a pay phone, open sign and faux window covering) an Art Director added an entryway which completed the look and feel.
What fun to see it all come together! I’ll miss it when it’s gone. But I’m happy to have had the opportunity to share “a little” of my own creativeness. Happy Halloween! 🤗 ~Cheryl
Beyond the Oven 