The Fun Box

A gif of rotating photos featuring fun, funky and unexpected imagery including disco balls, roller skates, women in sparkly dresses, and a woman in high heels on a skateboard.

Hospitality is the industry of fun. Yet, a lot of times, we get bogged down in business and forget to bring fun to work. At Red Pencil, we always like to think of new ways to have fun in life and at work. So here are a few of our favorites.

What’s fun?

Two toddlers wearing black onesies with glow-in-the-dark neon piping are dancing at night while surrounded by adults.

01

Jamming Out

There’s a reason Mark Wahlberg’s F45 fitness centers are so popular: the music. Music motivates us, whether through tough challenges or celebrating wins. It delivers powerful messages through irresistible beats that keep us moving. We love opening kick off meetings or regular meetings with music.

What song gets you pumped up?

My clients and I have been adding songs to this playlist – we’d love to hear yours. Just click on the link to add a track, or just use this playlist to kick off your next meeting.

02

Sharing Grace

Inviting more friends, coworkers, neighbors, partners and perspectives to the table always helps us get unstuck. When we invite more people to the table, we find unexpected answers and hidden talents.

Check out this book: A Measure of Grace

On a recent trip to Capitol Reef National Park, we dined at Hell’s Backbone Grill, a restaurant in the middle of nowhere adorned with colorful, Tibetan prayer flags. Over the tastiest Southwest comfort food, they’ve built a community that feels as grounding as the landscape itself. Their first cookbook, With A Measure of Grace describes how these Buddhists found ways to staff, recycle and broaden mindsets in a locale historically owned by the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

The cover of the cookbook "With a Measure of Grace", featuring seven individual photos of food, people, and colorful flags. There is a red color block that includes the title and authors.
A closeup of butter lettuce topped with a light herbal dressing in a white porcelain bowl.

Cooking together

My friends and I have started cooking together. We find joy in arguing over how much Manchego should be shaved onto salads, for example. All in good fun. With this recipe, we’ve learned how to treat butter lettuce better!

03

Making Stuff Up

Six brightly colored pieces of paper hang on a wall in rows of three with short workplace messages.

Including staff in creative development sessions almost always pays off! You may want to improve wine service, inspire everyone to keep the place more tidy, or want people to think outside the box. When you engage them in developing their own campaigns, you get a colorful result! We’ve printed staff slogans and messages on colored paper, using basic office printers and the templates below. Just change the typeface to your brand’s font, add a logo, and you’re set!

Download the Poster Templates

Print your own fun messages using a basic printer but wild colored paper to brighten the back of house!

A neon pink piece of paper taped to a red wall with bright yellow tape that reads "Hey, Hot Stuff!" with additional text instructing how to keep uniforms spiffy.
A neon pink piece of paper taped to a white wall with bright yellow tape that reads "10 Best Bars in America" with an excerpt from Esquire about Starlite cocktail lounge.
A young boy stands surrounded by colorful diamond-shaped lights in shades of purple, pink, green, yellow, and white. He is wearing headphones and listening to music.

Soulshine

It’s better than sunshine
It’s better than moonshine
Damn sure better than rain

-The Allman Brothers

04

Working With Friends

Our favorite shortcut to fun? Collaborating with friends. Take this website, for instance—it was crafted by my best friend since seventh grade, Alli. Though she now calls Rhode Island home and we’re no longer just blocks apart in Wichita, Kansas, working on this project together gave us three extra hours of connection each week. Yes, I know plenty of talented web designers, but buddying up with Alli made it personal and fun.

Gif of rotating photos of Mamie Peers and her friend Allison as teenagers in the 1990s.
Rendering of the exterior view of Drew Las Vegas.

Witkoff

New York City, New York

Witkoff is one part developer. One part investor. One part landscape-changer. A vertically integrated real estate firm that brings inventive thinking to a traditional industry, Witkoff plays all the roles to make each project most successful. More than a collection of buildings, the group is a multifaceted business in it for the long run, with over 30 years of being a trusted partner to prove it.

Never settling for standard, Witkoff has an eye for original ideas and unique partnerships. This led the team to hold a diverse portfolio including hotels, residential properties, commercial buildings, and operating businesses, as well as land for future development.

Visit Witkoff
Exterior view of The Westin hotel with a sandy beach and driftwood in the foreground.

The Westin Jekyll Island

Jekyll Island, Georgia

The Westin Jekyll Island is a coastal haven on Georgia’s preserved Sea Islands, part of the Golden Isles barrier islands. It features 187 guestrooms and 13 suites with direct beach access and ocean views. Recently re-imagined by its ownership group, Northview, it now serves some of the most quintessential regional cuisine by Chef Lindsay Autrey at Willet’s Lowcountry and Salty’s, a poolside bar and grill.

Visit The Westin
Headshot of Paul Bartolotta wearing a white chef's jacket.

The Bartolotta Restaurants

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Bartolotta Restaurants is a nationally recognized restaurant and catering organization, founded by two-time James Beard Award-winning Chef Paul Bartolotta and his restaurateur brother Joe Bartolotta. Since the 1993 launch of their award-winning flagship, the group has grown into the Greater Milwaukee region’s premier culinary brand, offering first-class cuisine and service across a portfolio of 17 one-of-a-kind outlets.

Visit Bartolottas
A man and woman wearing a bright red dress walk up an outdoor stairway with grand arches and lush green plants in the background

The Boca Raton Club

Boca Raton, Florida

One of South Florida’s most exclusive private clubs offering its members access to The Boca Raton, a luxury resort and club located on 337 acres that front both Lake Boca and beachside of the Atlantic Ocean. Originally opened in 1926 as a 100-room inn designed by Addison Mizner, The Boca Raton is now five hotels, including the Yacht Club, Tower, Bungalows, Cloister, and Forbes Five-Star Beach Club. The club is also home to an 18-hole golf course, spa, tennis courts, marina, pools, and meeting spaces. It features a FlowRider surf wave simulator, a kids' club, and more than 15 restaurants and bars, including Sadelle's, Principessa Ristorante, Japanese Bocce Club, and The Flamingo Grill.

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Two young women sit at a high-top table with laptops in a community workspace. There is a colorful mural on the background wall and a light purple sofa in the foreground.

Fora

London, England

Fora is a flexible workspace provider, now with more than 60 locations throughout Europe. Its unparalleled workplaces are home to progressives, the forward thinkers, the status quo-challengers, the creators and the innovators. A champion of greater flexibility and hospitality-style service, Fora creates award-winning and individually designed workspaces in sought-after locations that define and empower the way businesses and their employees work today.

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Video gif showing the profile view of a hummingbird with specks of turquoise and green across its back feathers and white and brown on its underbelly. It is in midflight with its wings open and against a black backdrop.

Drew Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Drew Las Vegas was to be the first new, luxury resort on the Las Vegas Strip in 11 years located at the site of the current Fontainebleau Las Vegas. It sits on 25 acres and was to become host to 3,710 luxury rooms and suites inclusive of a JW Marriott, EDITION & original hotel created by ownership group. It boasted 170,000 square feet of casino space, 20 restaurants, 550,000 square feet of convention area and 8 acres featuring 3 distinct pool neighborhoods. It also contained a 138,000 square foot theater, 108,000 square foot nightclub, all with direct connection to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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Gif of a performer dressed as a nun blowing a ping pong ball straight up from her mouth.

Spiegelworld

Las Vegas, Nevada

Known for its genre-defying shows, dining, and entertainment, Spiegelworld is the planet’s top purveyor of excitement for savvy, seen-it-all pleasure seekers. Born in a century-old spiegeltent under the Brooklyn Bridge in 2006, the company relocated to Las Vegas with its 2011 Caesars Palace debut of Absinthe, hailed as “the #1 greatest show in Las Vegas history.” Since then, Spiegelworld has expanded with shows Atomic Saloon Show, Discoshow, and OPM, plus hit restaurant concepts Superfrico, Diner Ross, and No Pants, and award-winning bars Ski Lodge, Glitterloft, and 99 Prince. Its fearless team is now also steward of the circus town of Nipton, California.

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Woman in a yellow, sleeveless jumpsuit walking in front of a neon sign that reads, "Rio". The lights and colors are bright against the night sky.

Rio Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

An icon reborn, the Rio Hotel & Casino is a vibrant oasis located just one block off the Las Vegas Strip on Flamingo Road. Having purchased the resort from Caesars Entertainment, the new ownership group, Dreamscapes, transformed the resort in 2023 and renovated thousands of 580 square-foot guest rooms, brought vibrancy to its 3-acre pool paradise, created an all-new 150,000 square-foot casino environment, and updated the resort’s expansive convention and meeting complex. The Rio has been completely reimagined while preserving its timeless architecture and honoring its storied legacy.

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The Cosmopolitan marquee lit up at nighttime. There is a large purple "C" in the center and palm trees in the foreground.

The Cosmopolitan

Las Vegas, Nevada

The Cosmopolitan is a unique luxury resort, hotel and casino located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip with 3,000 guest rooms with oversized residential-styled living spaces with private terraces. Its one-of-a-kind Restaurant Collection of 26 venues features eateries from such world-class chefs as Bruce and Eric Bromberg and José Andrés and, as well as the first Las Vegas locations of trendsetting options like Eggslut, Beauty and Essex, Momofuku and Milk Bar. It is also home to hand-selected, eclectic boutiques, aa 100,000 square-foot casino, The Chelsea concert venue, Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub, the serenity of Sahra Spa, Salon and Hammam, and more than 5,000 CoStars.

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Interior view of Starlite cocktail lounge features walls, velvet curtains, and a long bench seat all in a deep emerald green with warm, cozy lighting and elegant fixtures.

Starlite

San Francisco, California

Everyone has a story at Starlite, a cocktail lounge known for splashy cocktails and unforgettable parties spanning nearly a century. Reopened in February 2024, this iconic San Francisco establishment now sits on the 21st floor of the Beacon Grand (formerly the Sir Francis Drake Hotel). Celebrating the essence of the city—its gold, fog, and cable cars—award-winning bar expert Scott Baird and Michelin-awarded Chef Johnny Spero bring the concept to new heights. All the while Nina Tarr keeps the party going with an all-vinyl DJ lineup, drawing fresh moves and locals alike to Union Square.

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