Before we get started, I should let you know, **This post contains a promotional product.
Read my full disclosure here.
For the past two years, I’ve been lucky enough to participate in the annual FearCon convention in Salt Lake City and I thought I’d share a behind the scenes look at the four-day adventure from this year’s event!
The whole thing started out with a mad scramble to get all the things I wanted to bring ready, including more yard tentacles, tons of fizzing frog foam potion bottles, two dozen loaves of Brimstone bread, a few carnivorous seedlings, a second (non-moving) Cleopatra, a haunted ouija board, a flickering black flame candle and miscellaneous odds and ends like molds, aprons, utensils and other fun bits and baubles. Whew! Oh, and did I mention I had to rewire poor Cleo after she snapped some internal tentacle lines when I had her tension set too high?! So much to do, so little time to do it in!
Cleopatra’s seedlings! 
Working on the haunted ouija board last minute. 
I lit the black flame candle and am disappointed to report…nothing happened. 
Yard tentacles made from the same mold as Cleopatra’s arms! Each one has a stake and they stick in the lawn or garden. 
Testing out how the yard tentacles look in the garden. I like it!
The load in day for the con was Thursday, October 10th and ran from 10 am to 8 pm. Of course, coming from Boise which is about a 5-hour drive from the venue, it made perfect sense for me to hit the road at noon with Lucifur and my friend @Grosnezlavender (check her out on IG!).
We pulled into the venue right at 6 pm and immediately started to unload. In addition to all our spooky stuff, I also brought along the official spacesuit I made for Sharknado 4 that Tara Reid wore as we were told she would be attending the con and we thought it would be a fun little addition (side note, in another life I was the costume designer on Sharknado 3, 4 and 6…fun times.).
Who knew you could fit so much in one single Honda? 
Lucifur says “You set up. I’ll supervise.”
One of the things I love the most about FearCon is how they take care of their vendors. Case in point, free tickets to the Vampire Circus (think Cirque du Soleil but darker).
We finished unpacking, threw a sheet over our tables, and went to the circus.
The event was pretty impressive. I’m not usually a circus person, but I have to give the contortionists serious credit. Lucifur, however, was not impressed and we ended up having to stuff her ears with kleenex so she could sleep through the event.
That night we made our way to our hotel where Lucifur insisted we order pizza in order to make up for forcing her to sit through the circus.
The next morning we were up bright and early and on our way to the con. Of course, we realized during set up the night before that there were things we still needed to pick up so there was a rushed trip to Home Depot for last-minute supplies. Then it was back to the venue to finish setting up.
Lucifur demands ear plugs 
Home Depot run! 
Getting our area all set up! 
Ready to go!
The doors opened at 3 pm and it was at this point the next two days started to blur together with all the work we were doing. I regret that I didn’t manage to get more photos but holy cow, we were SWAMPED! We gave out free samples of our fizzing frog foam drink mix and went through two massive 5-gallon dispensers worth by 9 pm that night. We also sold half our Brimstone bread and quite a few molds. In addition, a recently repaired Cleo made her first public appearance and startled more than her fair share of patrons as she gently waved her tentacles around in the air on our table. (Highlight of the day was convincing several youngsters that she was not only 100% real, but very hungry.)
I know we drove back to the hotel that night, but I don’t remember much beyond a quick side trip to Chip for some well-deserved chocolate chip cookies and milk at sometime around 1 am.
The next day was just as busy, with doors opening at noon. We blew through the rest of our Frog Foam and Brimstone Bread which was awesome as it meant less for us to pack up at the end of the night.
Then it was time to start doing the live decorating demo. It’s become a bit of a tradition for our booth to put together a cake on the last night to not only say thank you to all the amazing people who come by our booth every year, but also to celebrate my birthday (October 13th) and have fun with a bit of spooky cake decorating…and this year was no exception.
To shake it up from last year’s skull cake, I decided to do a groundbreaker zombie cake. I spent the afternoon hand pouring and decorating 50 solid chocolate zombie fingers as well as molding a headstone and decorating a half sheet chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting, graham cracker crumb moss and a few generous splatters of chocolate ‘blood.’
The cake all assembled and ready for some blood splatter and creepy zombie fingers 
Flinging blood like a pro 
Fingers in place, blood splattered and ready to eat! 
Mmmm…disgustingly delicious! 
My demo station. 
So many chocolate zombie fingers!
Finally, it was time to cut the cake! We served close 75 hungry guests and everyone that got a piece of cake also got either a zombie finger or a bit of the chocolate tombstone. All in all, it was a huge success.
Once the cake was served, I had a short amount of time to run around the con and see what everyone else was doing. So many amazing vendors, displays and things to see. My only regret is I didn’t get more photos.
Suddenly the weekend was over and the con was finished! We slowly packed up our stuff, loaded everything into the car, wrangled Lucifur back into her spot in the back seat, and made our way to the hotel for serious sleep.
On our way out of town Sunday, we made a stop at the aquarium where they were celebrating the spooky season in style with skeletons sunken into most of the displays (it was hilarious and perfect).
Baby shark…doo doo doo doo… 
Even the fish get festive for Halloween 
Lucifur really liked the shark tank 
Tiny dog. Huge fish.
Then, it was time to get back on the road for the return drive and more sleep before heading to work on Monday.
Now, five days later, I’ve finally gotten caught up on my rest, finally unloaded the last of the stuff from the car, and caught my breath enough to really look back on the weekend with a ton of nostalgia and a little bit of awe. You never realize just how hard you work until you get through it and look back.
I also wanted to take this post as a chance to say thank you to a few people who made the trip possible, starting with my amazing Patreons. You guys have been so rock steady and supportive of my site and all that I do and without you, I never would have been able to make it as far as I have. Your support helped pay for the booth, supplies, gas and a hotel room that was a massive upgrade from last year (no meth deals in the hallway this year – that’s a HUGE win!). Thank you thank you thank you for all you’ve done!
Secondly, I want to thank @Grosnezlavender who volunteered to come along with me on this insane adventure. You didn’t just pull your weight, you pulled mine as well on a number of occasions and I never would have been able to do as well this con as I did without you there. You kept me calm when I thought I’d lost my wallet, helped me stay focused on doing demos of products while you managed booth visitors, and sold the HELL out of the Frog Foam. You are amazing and I’m so grateful for all you did, including keeping Lucifur away from the vendors on either side of us (seriously, why do people insist on wanting to pet her when it’s so clear she wants nothing to do with them?! Sheesh!)
Finally, I want to say thank you to the team over at Chef Uniforms who kindly sent me this free chef’s jacket to wear at the con.
I am the first to admit I am a disaster in the kitchen and usually end up wearing more of what I’m making than what ends up on the plate. I have several chef’s jackets and have to say that they are perfect for helping keep me somewhat clean and somewhat presentable in public. When the team at @chefuniforms reached out and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing one of their jackets I happily said yes! I got the package just before the con and it was the perfect addition to the weekend.
I popped one of my logo patches onto the sleeve and wore it on the last day while decorating my cake.
The venue was definitely warmer than I had hoped it would be and I was a little worried that the jacket would be too hot, but I loved the fact that it had short sleeves and was a light enough material to allow me to breathe without it being so thin that everything I spilled on it (which was a lot) would soak through. I don’t do #sponsored posts very often because I’m really picky about making sure what I’m putting my name behind is good enough for not only me, but the amazing fans who follow me, and when I review something, I’m honest in what I like about the product and don’t like. I’m happy to report that there wasn’t really anything about this jacket I didn’t like! I think my favorite part is that it’s a fitted jacket designed specifically for women. While I don’t mind wearing jackets for men, it’s nice to have a bit of the bulk trimmed down. My ONLY complaint about these guys is they have these super awesome skullinary (hah!) pants I would totally rock, if only they were a little bit longer.
So that was our wild and crazy weekend at this year’s FearCon…
Oh, and for anyone that’s wondering…Tara Reid totally canceled last minute.
Shocker.
This post contains sponsored content brought to you by Chef Uniforms. They were kind enough to send me this chef’s jacket to promote in this post, but all opinions and views presented here are 100% strictly my own. Sponsored posts like this allow me to keep bringing disgustingly delicious content to you for free! For further information please see my full advertising disclosure page.
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Aww this turned out super cute! Thanks for the shout out. I had fun helping you with the con of course! Cant wait until Krampus in December!
You are 100% my favorite con buddy (Even more than Lucifur. She barks too much.)