A few weeks ago, I was up to my eyebrows in plans for our Derby de Mayo Open House — a mash-up of the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo that, frankly, I’m surprised hasn’t been trademarked by tequila companies yet. We were celebrating the 25th anniversary of LARGEPRINTING.com, which meant food, drinks, branding everywhere, and enough themed decor to make Pinterest weep with joy.
My goal was simple: create a vibe that said, “Yes, we are extremely professional and talented… but also, do you want a Mint Julep and some guac while we talk shop?” So we designed a custom event logo, branded wall graphics, floor graphics, window graphics, collector’s giveaways celebrating the Kansas City Royals — basically, if you could put print on it, we did.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting.
Wanting to encourage conversation and not just awkward standing-around-with-chips moments, I dragged in long tables and chairs for our main hallway. Great. Solid. But then I thought, “You know what we need? Cocktail tables. Bases for mingling and margaritas and mint juleps.”
My first instinct was to rent some. Like a normal person.
But then I remembered: we make things. So I turned to our Creative Director — keeper of materials, sultan of substrates — and asked, “Can we make cocktail tables?” He blinked once and replied, deadpan, “Of course. How big do you want them?”
"Of course." Silly me.
Tom and Miles whipped up a prototype using Falconboard. Not fancy yet — think cardboard chic — but it stood tall. We made a few tweaks to improve the stability (i.e., “Let’s not have these collapse mid-margarita”) and once it passed the wobble test, Tom looked at me and said, “What do you want printed on them?”
Cue me blinking in confusion. “Wait, we can print on them?”
He gave me that look. You know the one. “Tina. Where do you workkr? Send me the art.”
Now, you tell me I can print on a thing, and I’m going to print on all the things. I spent the evening falling down a glorious Derby rabbit hole — researching horses, jockeys, trainers, odds, post positions, experts’ picks, what kind of hat to wear (I didn’t stop). I designed art for the tabletops featuring Churchill Downs and the Derby itself, and plastered the inside and outside of the table legs with info about each horse like they were race-ready Wikipedia entries.
By event day, we had custom cocktail tables that doubled as conversation starters and miniature horse-themed billboards. Our guests noshed, sipped, chatted, and casually crammed for Derby Day while marveling at the fact that yes, these tables were made in-house. From scratch. By the people who also printed the life-sized Royal mascot on the wall next to the churro cart.
In the end, the event was a hit — our open house was full of great energy, real connections, tasty food, and some pretty sweet photo ops with our giant wall graphics and custom tables.
Moral of the story? When in doubt, don’t buy it. Build it. Especially if you work at a place where a substrate isn't just for ink.
