When people see our elaborate photobooths from the parties, there's always two questions: where do you find this stuff and what do you do with it after? OfferUp is my favorite app to buy and sell random things. Craigslist isn't reliable and your listings expire after two weeks. However, with every prop that I buy and sell comes a pretty good story.
The Locker - Andrew and I bought it from an artist who used it to "store his guns." We didn't know if he was joking or not, but he was living in east downtown in a garage with a mattress on the floor. He was moving out. After using it for Try Outs and also our Halloween Party which was Mean Girls themed (Boo! You Whore), I sold it to a barbershop owner who was going to paint it to match his shop and then let his barbers store their personal belongings. Thought that was pretty cool. He brought his buddy to bring it down the stairs. Thank gawd because it took all 4 of us to drag it up the stairs and it was a bit of a hazard.
 |
| Locker room and Threeway Call with Cool Mom |
The Lacrosse Stick ($4 at Goodwill) - It was just a prop for TryOuts and apparently worth $80-$100 new. I sold it today to a girl who just joined a team in high school. She was super excited. I told her she could have it for free and he dad told me he would ship me some coffee beans because he was a coffee roaster. They were such a cute family and super grateful. They drove 40 minutes to meet me at Silverlake Reservoir and stayed to play with it. That actually inspired this post.
New Years Decorations - Joe hosted a NYE party in New York in 2016 and didn't know what to do with the props and decorations, so he shipped it to me. I gave it Nathan so that he can decorate his party "Fyre Festival: Till the World Ends" for this year. Joe told me how happy he was that his things had a second life after I sent him a picture of the decorations up in Nathan's apartment.
The Glow in the Dark Barrel - The First "Asian Glow" Party we did in 2013 Andrew bought this barrel from a farmer and painted it highlighter yellow. It was the first of 3 blacklight parties where I would install 8 blacklights and turn everything off. This one was fun; we had highlighters and folks drew on each other. We also high neon yarn and made it look like lasers were shooting everywhere. I've since sold the blacklights to some teenagers and also the barrel which is now in a music video.
Salon Chair - In 2016, we thought we were going to get evicted because the owner wanted to "move in," so we hosted a "Sia Later" wig party. Andrew found this salon chair on Criagslist. The photos were hilarious. After that, I sold it to a young hipster who wanted to use it to decorate their house. Weird.
ShenYun Legs - We had a party called "ShenYun: A Must See." And Andrew of course, comes up with this crazy idea to make it look like we were doing the splits with PVC piping. Of course, he based it off his 6'1 body so it didn't quite line up with everyone else who was normal Asian height unless you faced your back to the camera. It was a Asian fabric dance party, not a Chinese party... let's be clear everyone. The legs show up again in the TryOut showers and the MeanGirls Halloween party. You know, when Caddy falls into the trash can in the hallway? Stretching it? I sold it to this lady who used it for some display/craft project. Wonder where what really happened to them and I'm kinda sad I sold them cuz I feel like I could have reinvented them. BUT we still have those red shoes that look super good on Charles.
 |
| David as Kimora Lee Simons |
 |
| See the legs in the shower in the back? |
Jurassic Park Jeep - For Andrew's birthday, we hosted a "Dat-Ass-Ic Park" party and our friend Daniel bought a barbie power wheels and painted it to look like the Jurassic Park Jeep. You can see the purple interior on the wheel. BTW, this photo made me laugh so hard when I found it. I sold it to someone during Halloween who was competing in work group costume contest and wanted to roll into the conference room with it. We've established that Andrew really really likes parties with Movie themes.
Anyway, the point of this post is that I buy super random things and it makes me sad to see these found objects just laying in the room after a good party. I think trashing them is wasteful and donating them isn't as satisfying because you don't know where it'll end up. It brings me so much joy when I find others who actually appreciate them, giving them new life! Now... what to do with that random Titanic chair... ANDREW! UGH!
