Decorate your own ceramic Halloween tree at these craft classes 

Yaymaker Long Island is hosting a pair of Halloween tree-making events — one live and one virtual — for those who can't wait until the winter to decorate a holiday tree.

Yaymaker LI owner Tammy Tavarone-Bishop of East Moriches says she thought up the concept for ceramic Halloween tree classes after what she describes as "crazy, wild success over the holidays in 2019 doing the ceramic Christmas trees." Her regular customers began asking for similar events that could help them expand on their personal collections. "We came up with these beautiful black ceramic trees, with the orange and purple lights and the orange and purple base," Tavarone-Bishop says. "The customers can customize the base if they want, with pumpkins or bats or other Halloween-inspired décor."

Yaymaker events are typically held in restaurants and bars, but when the pandemic temporarily closed those establishments, Tavarone-Bishop took all of her events online. However, with easing restrictions, she’s now splitting the opportunities to create and decorate a ceramic tree into in-person and virtual events.

The first class is set to take place Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m., at Villa Olivetti (645 Middle Country Rd., St. James) for ages 18 and older, with limited tickets available online via yaymaker.com for $68. Tickets include all necessary supplies. For anyone unable to attend, a virtual event is set for Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7:15 p.m., for $79. Supplies will be sent directly to your home after you’ve purchased a ticket online and provided shipping information. Tavarone-Bishop further adds that her company hosts both private at-home events and virtual private events, for groups starting at eight. These can also be booked through the Yaymaker website.

Tavarone-Bishop, who has been in business on Long Island and working within area restaurants since 2014, notes that the health crisis and restrictions placed on restaurants were challenging. "It feels amazing to be able to push back out into the restaurants and to help support the local venues, as well as to reconnect with our local customers who are dying to get out of their homes … We're really looking forward to slowly reentering these spaces."