These teens took their homecoming pictures at IKEA, and they're hilarious
Homecoming photos in a park or under a gazebo are so last year. If you want to stand out in your yearbook, grab your high school crew and head to your favorite furniture store for a one-of-a-kind photo shoot.
That’s what Megan Goulding, a senior from Frisco, Texas, suggests. And she speaks from experience. For this year’s homecoming photos, she and her squad hit up IKEA and hilariously posed in its staged rooms.
Why take normal homecoming pictures when you can take them at Ikea @IKEAUSA pic.twitter.com/yjFct8MBYs
— megan (@MeganReese___) September 17, 2017
“A few weeks ago when we started planning homecoming, we were trying to find out where to take our pictures, and one of the boys, Hayden Mcfarland, said ‘IKEA’ as a joke, but I was totally onboard with it from the beginning,” the teenager tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Luckily, Goulding’s mom, Shandee Goulding, is a professional photographer and offered up her time and skills to shoot and edit the project. Because what are moms for if not to take their children to IKEA and document it?
“We didn’t want to do traditional pictures, because we wanted to be different,” Megan explains. “Everyone just goes to a park and stands by some trees, but we didn’t want to do that this year.”
Megan says she’s already a huge fan of IKEA, so this special trip to the store was a treat. “I have a lot of furniture from there,” she says. “When it was suggested, I was so excited to pose in all the staged rooms.”
The 16-year-old recalled walking in and getting “so many strange looks,” and the many shoppers who asked if they were “famous or shooting for the IKEA magazine,” but she ensured them they are just “funny high school kids!”
Of course, not every student wants to stand out. “Most of my friends were onboard, but a few definitely needed encouragement to get into it. As soon as everyone got really into it, though, it was such a blast, and we had great ideas. To make my friends more confident, I asked them, ‘When you are 40, would you rather show your kids pictures at a park or IKEA?’ I say IKEA!”
Donning their formalwear — Megan is the one in a green sequin dress with the black fringe — the 10 friends looked like naturals posing outside the store, in a fake kitchen, and sitting on a couch. So natural, IKEA probably should use them in their next catalog.
And now that the photo shoot is being shared, other classmates must be rethinking their classic homecoming pics. “My classmates have loved it!” Megan says. “So many people have asked why we did it, but they all think it was a great idea. This morning a girl at my school that I don’t know asked me if I was the ‘IKEA girl!’ Everyone is texting about how it’s blowing up and how excited they are!”
Oh, and Megan got her fun frock for $33 on Amazon, in case you were wondering. “I love bargains. Which also explains why I love IKEA.”
Prom in HomeSense, anyone?
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