Happy Halloween!

This year I didn't do much to decorate my office, but we did celebrate Halloween in a couple different ways - a costume contest and a pumpkin carving contests. I loved the pumpkin carving contest. See all the pictures here.

My favorite:

Our office winner:

What a fun way to get some seasonal spirit in the office!

One more reason to love my new job...

...they've already put up their Halloween decorations!

 

P.S. I've always loved decorating my cubicle for Halloween!

Darkness

I spent hours after work on Thursday hemming and hanging sheets of black plastic. Combined with the artificial ceiling my coworkers had suspended over the row, these sheets were going to create a very dark narrow hallway for our coworkers' children to shiver down, trying to avoid flaming skulls, skeletal hands and inflated pumpkins and ghosts.

On Friday I walked around the office, capturing my handiwork on film. As I ducked into the dark and scary hallway, I saw John's wife and mother-in-law stopping to say hi. On second glance I realized that John's mother-in-law couldn't appreciate my efforts because her world is permanently enshrouded in darkness.

While she couldn't see our decorations, I wondered what she thought as she and her daughter squeezed through the hallway, hunching their shoulders to avoid hitting their head on the cardboard and plastic ceiling. The hallway is narrow enough that they couldn't walk side-by-side so she was forced to walk slightly behind her daughter, holding her arm for guidance. They must have weaved from one side of the hallway to the other as they moved to avoid the balloons and other decorations hanging along the walls. When they got past the obstacles to John's cubicle, his wife leaned into his cube to get his attention. Her mom edged around her body, feeling the plastic curtain slither along her arm as she tried to join the conversation.

Standing there observing their conversation gave me an entirely different perspective on the decorations I had labored over. I was instantly grateful for the ease that my sight gives me, but also intrigued imagining the completely different experience John's mother-in-law had in that dark hallway.

Misunderstood

What I said: The balloon exploded when I was writing on it.

What they heard: The balloon exploded when I was riding on it.

There’s a mental picture for you!  Happy Halloween!!

Halloween 2004

I get lots of hits from my post about cubicle decorating last Halloween. Since it is that time again, I decided to post photos from last year so my office can be inspiration for other cube-dwellers faced with the same challenge.

Today I finally convinced a few of my "neighbors" that they want to participate this year so now we have to come up with a new theme and start our planning for this year's competition. Right now we're thinking of having spooky things to see and touch--cold noodles for brains, peeled grapes for eyeballs, witch's brew made of punch with dry ice. Suggestions happily taken!

Preparing for Halloween

My office is the coolest ever. On Friday, there will be:

• a haunted house in the conference room for people to bring their kids to
• trick-or-treating for kids at selected cubicles
• a costume contest (for the employees)
• a cubicle decorating contest
• a hallway decorating contest
• other treats and fun

It had been my intention this year to dress up as a Catholic schoolgirl for Halloween but I don't feel comfortable wearing that to the office. I hadn't decided if I was going to participate in the costume contest at all, until I decided to decorate my cubicle as a pumpkin patch. Since my cubicle will be a pumpkin patch, I think I'll be a farmer. How cute is that? If I have time after helping my "neighbors" decorate our hallway tomorrow night after work, I plan on turning my filing cabinet into hay bales, my recycling box into a wheelbarrow, and covering my cubicle floor with orange balloon pumpkins and green crepe paper vines. How fun will that be?