Dressing up as your president or vice president for a Halloween at the office could either end well - or not.
Luckily for Wallside Windows employees Callie Harpe and Angie Laesser, creativity comes well-received.
Last year the two were inspired to dress up as brothers Stanford and Stuart Blanck who run the company that was started by their father, Martin Blanck. It may have started as a joke at the office, but the employees took it seriously. Harpe and Laesser thought it was a great idea and immediately began hunting around for the perfect costumes.
They found clothing at local thrift stores and in Laesser’s dad’s closet. They studied the brothers from head to toe in an effort to capture every detail - right down to the Starbucks and Tim Hortons coffees that Stuart and Stanford carry in each morning! Of course there was the concern that if Stuart and Stanford didn’t find this costume idea quite as humorous as they did, they wouldn’t have anything else to change into it. It was a risk.
As soon as they walked into Wallside Factory, “Stuart and Stanford” were treated like celebrities. Fellow employees wanted to snap a photo. They not only dressed the part but also played the part. Harpe sat down at Stuart’s desk to eat a bowl of bran cereal, as he does daily and the real Stuart Blanck started laughing, Laesser recalls.
When Stanford walked in, Stuart directed Harpe to ask him about Mother. And Stanford’s son, Adam Blanck who works as chief of staff for Wallside, couldn’t wait to get photos of “just us Blancks.”
“Just us Blancks” was a hit during last year's Halloween Costume Contest at Wallside. Left to Right are Stanford Blanck, Angie Laesser dressed as Stanford, Callie Harpe dessed as Stuart, Stuart Blanck.
It was no surprise when Harpe and Laesser took first prize in the office costume contest, nabbing a Fox Sports duffel bag and Meijer gift card, but they weren’t the only ones to get into the fun.
Wallside’s Nicole Murphy, along with Correen Eldred and Carrie McClung, dressed up as the Three Blind Mice. And Gail Klenczar, who originally suggested to Adam they should host a costume contest, dressed up as a deviled egg. Klenczar has also been behind several great ideas that help bring the Wallside family close together.
Another popular costume was this group effort - Three Blind Mice - featuring from left to right: Correen Eldred, Nicole Murphy and Carrie McClung.
“Adam is a great sport, always up for fun, getting the office team involved in contests for prizes and willing to listen to ideas,” she said. “I also suggested that we have an office pot luck, and he said ‘great idea, maybe we can do that around Thanksgiving.’
“Working for the Blancks is truly like working for family.”
As for this year’s contest, Harpe and Laesser are hard at work on their costumes, just like their fellow staff members.
“We have a good idea of what we will be this year, said Laesser. “Although it won’t top last year’s, it should suit our personalities. It’s a work in progress at this point.”
One thing’s for sure: The Wallside family knows how to have fun.
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