Thursday, October 12, 2006

Living Like Trading Spaces

Well, my last year of decorating the cafeteria for Book Festival is now finished. The event happened tonight, and I got everything done. It did feel a bit like Trading Spaces, in that there was a definite count-down...as well as using flimsy materials, from what I hear. Although I don't think TS has stooped to crepe paper like I did.

Anyway, I had three kids and one other adult to assist, and we finished with 10 minutes to spare. The crepe paper operated as the spreading leaves of trees (which were the center posts of the room, covered in brown artist's paper): the metallic skirting made a charming waterfall over the doors, and in a bold move to make the whole thing about the kids, I made large paper leaves with all their names on.

This was especially smart for relieving any pressure on me--it was about the KID'S ART, not about what I could do. I just put up the background for what the KIDS did, and the KIDS' art was the focus. And really, isn't that appropriate for a school function?

The kidlet's requests were really reasonable, and I bought a couple other books that looked interesting. So now I'm done, and I've set the bar reasonably low so that if no one volunteers to decorate the cafeteria, kids could do it. Or, they could give it a rest for a bit, and then a new volunteer could suggest it. "I know, let's decorate the cafeteria for Family Night!" And then everyone else will say "You are such a genius!"

Either that or there will be a professional set decorator from the Guthrie who has a kid at the school.

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