Happy Thanksgiving to all the American readers!
I may be from the UK, but that doesn't mean I can't dress my restaurant up for the holidays! So here's a brief look at how The Garlic Tree has been furnished for Thanksgiving...
Unlike Halloween where I opted to mix the spooky content with my existing set-up, for Thanksgiving I've got a dedicated section for the season:
 |
| Thanksgiving section of The Garlic Tree |
This replaces my retro diner section (which is now in storage) and smaller Autumn section which was contructed prior to Halloween.
Clearly the centrepiece of this large area is the
Cider Bar, which was a limited time offer the week before the Halloween updates began. It may have cost 38 gems, but is massive and has lots of detail. I've flanked it with a few
Fall Counters, although if you look closely at the Panpipe Asparagus, it's actually on a Steampunk Counter. There's still 46,000 plates of it, so I can't bring myself to hit the dispose button!
The Cider Bar obviously gives an outdoor feel to the section, and the
Thanksgiving Dinner LTO from last week also has that aura, so would have been a great fit here. But with Black Friday on the horizon I saved my gems and decided to use
Pumpkin Stools with
Autumn Tables instead. Hardly the ideal substitute, but there you go!
Once the punters have had a drink they can warm up on the
Cozy Couch, which is one of several items from last year's Thanksgiving offering that I've got placed. The
Thanksgiving Display and
Pumpkin Topiary alongside the couch along with the
Wagon of Pumpkins and
Thanksgiving Desserts are also 2012 content but is unfortunately no longer available (the Cozy Couch is still available for a bargain of 10,000 coins).
The other floor decorations I've yet to mention both feature a person to keep the barmaid company - the
Leaf Pile was a goal item this year and is one I really love, while the
Playful Parasol was actually released in Spring. I've not had much of a chance to get her on the restaurant floor much since I acquired her services, but complete with her umbrella, this lass adds to the outdoor quality.
To finish my themed area off, I've used the
Autumn Dividers which are relatively cheap to seperate it from the rest of the diner.
I've always liked the Autumn themed content in Restaurant Story, having had an Autumn section installed for a long time previously. I particularly like the orange and brown colouring, which together really convey a warmth that can be connected to warming up in front of the fire as the weather gets colder over winter.
It's the walls and floor which really define the tone, and I toyed with a few floor tile choices for a while. The Fall Leaves Tile and Autumn Floor from this year's releases were both tested, as well as the Autumn Leaves from 2012. But ultimately I chose the
Autumn Slate to compliment the
Outdoor wallpaper. Again these are both from last year but are still buyable.
Meanwhile the Parade Car and Thanksgiving Float both fail to make the cut in my restaurant. Why? Because there's no space! I don't want to totally overrun my place for Thanksgiving so restricted myself to a decent sized area. Yet these two goal items are really big (especially the float which is truly gigantic) so I can't fit them.
So that's the tour over. Get back to your Thanksgiving dinner everyone!
