The Shafferland B&B

When I was a little girl, I loved whatever the 80's version of dramatic play was called. It wasn't just playing house for me. I played church...and school...and store...you name it. I even had a fully hand-crafted version of a car in the backseat of my parents' car. I stuck a frisbee under the head rest for a steering wheel and then drew and cut out all the dials and buttons for everything from the speedometer to the radio. (I forget what I used for the gear shift.)

And whenever we traveled, I loved to play hotel. I had a set of real-looking money that I would take with me - and a little carbon copy receipt book - and I would make up names for the travelers staying in my hotel. I'd check them in and hand them travel brochures for hours.

This past weekend, I got a taste of childhood 2.0.

We had some friends coming to spend the night, and although they've stayed with us before, their kids had never been to our house. This time the whole family came, and we were excited to have them. I'd planned dinner and breakfast menus, cleaned up the guest room, and even put together a gift basket of treasures for the kids.

And then I got a text from my friend saying one of her daughters wondered if our house was like a real hotel. With a check-in desk.

Well, it is now!

I didn't have a ton of time to think through it or to be extra creative, but I thought it turned out pretty well with the time crunch! (I kept thinking later of things I should have added!)

I started with a welcome sign for the front door:

And then of course, there was the check-in desk itself. I tried to make it look informative (sign), welcoming (flowers), authentic (laptop), and functional (sign-in sheet). And since the garage door was there, well...parking garage.

I guess to be authentic as a B&B, I should have had a guest book available, but I figured a sign-in sheet would work nicely. :)

Of course there has to be a restaurant....

…and where there is a restaurant, there must be a menu, right?

Room #2 was ready to go...

...and so was the dining room!

One bed-and-breakfast girl ready to go! (Yes, that is a little ice cream cone in my hands. The kids were there when Ryan took this picture, and they were already having fun with the ice cream game.)

So there you have it!! The Shafferland bed-and-breakfast tour. I did have room keys, and if I'd thought of it, I would have made a do not disturb sign for the door. And a map of the house. I did actually think of the map, but I didn't have the time. It was a fun little project, and it seemed to go over really well with the kids, so that made it a win in my book!