Despite being hard hit this year by higher ingredient prices, tariffs, labor challenges, and rent hikes, more Atlanta bars and restaurants than ever before are getting into the holiday makeover spirit in December. For many bars and restaurants, operating a holiday pop-up is simply a continuation, and an unstoppable acceleration of, what’s become an annual tradition.
In Inman Park, the owners of Amore e Amore (formerly Il Localino) found themselves carried away by the Italian restaurant’s campy decor during the holidays.
“It started with the hats. It was Sinatra’s birthday [Dec. 12], and I thought we should play Sinatra all week,” Amore e Amore co-owner “Mama” Gale Parker said. “I went to the party store looking for inexpensive fedoras for the staff, and within two songs, customers [at the restaurant] had taken the hats and started wearing them.”
During a trip to Las Vegas, a ceiling installation of roses in a hot air balloon caught Parker’s eye. Struck by people’s positive reactions to the design, Parker contemplated how to bring a similar experience to Amore e Amore.
A curious hanging chair in the corner of the dining room meant to hide a bump on the ceiling sparked an aha! moment for Parker, who soon began hanging other things around the dining room. It didn’t take long for it to erupt into a full-scale explosion of decorations.
Walking into Amore e Amore during the holiday season, you enter a dining room bursting at the seams with festive decor. (Think an eclectic collection of lights and ornaments hanging from the rafters, tinsel festooning a tree at the entrance, and endless tchotchkes nestled into nooks.)
Related: Get festive at these holiday pop-ups around ATL
For S.O.S. Tiki Bar in Decatur, one of the first local bars to go overboard with a holiday makeover back in 2017, the choice to do a pop-up was intentional. It coaxed people in the door for drinks on cold nights in December.
The Decatur bar’s “Mele Kalikimaka Tiki Holiday” theme was a natural fit. Here, tropical kitsch, vintage decorations, and novelties like the “shot train” that chugs around the bar provide the necessary atmosphere. A soundtrack ranging from punk surf rock holiday tunes to Bing Crosby classics sets the mood at the basement bar.
Marietta Melt Yard’s holiday makeover journey began in 2023 with the bar van in the dining room. Having recently watched “Home Alone,” co-owner Justin Wilfon was struck by how much the restaurant’s van looked like the one in the movie. The holiday pop-up’s initial design started with cut-outs of the burglars. Today, the pop-up features paint cans in the ceiling, Buzz McCallister’s bookshelf, Duncan’s Toy Chest, and elements of other beloved holiday movies.
Going hard for the holidays isn’t cheap. Wilfon said he spent roughly $2,500 for materials in 2023. He spends a little more each year to make the Home Alone pop-up “bigger and better.”
Parker admitted she spends “more than a normal person would” on holiday decorations for Amore e Amore. At one point, she had seven storage units stuffed with decorations for themed months at the Inman Park restaurant.
Ian Jones of Victory Brands, the restaurant group behind S.O.S. Tiki Bar, said decorations, glassware, and custom-made items used to do up the Decatur bar for the holidays occupy most of a 20-foot shipping container. He’s lost count of how much he’s spent over the years on decor for the pop-up.
Jones, Wilfon, and Parker said that part of the fun of operating a holiday pop-up is procuring unique pieces to put on display. Amazon is a treasure trove, but thrift stores, antique and consignment shops, and estate sales are on regular rotation when scouting for decorations during the year.
“The coolest stuff are the handmade props we have from artists we found on Etsy, along with a local set-builder,” Wilfon said.
Even professional designers hired by restaurants, many of whom source from “trusted wholesalers and large-scale commercial decor vendors,” seek out custom-made items, or craft and paint decorations themselves, said Lauren Reeves of The Spirit Exchange.
Reeves is the designer behind the Santa’s Speakeasy pop-ups this year at the East Cobb and Woodstock locations of Marlow’s Tavern.
“The first year is always an investment [in decorations]; after that, it becomes more of a spend on the actual labor,” Reeves said of the costs. Part of that investment includes manpower.
“There’s no shame in recognizing that there are others out there who have the skills and resources to succeed in a way we wouldn’t if we did it on our own,” said Rye Restaurants partner Jennifer Johnson.
For 2025, Rye Restaurants debuted an “Elf” movie-themed pop-up at Wood’s Chapel BBQ in Summerhill. The group tapped Brans House Design Studio to come up with a theme and decorate the restaurant. This allowed Johnson and her Wood’s Chapel staff to concentrate on food and drinks for the holiday pop-up, including novelty foods like candy corn-bread with maple syrup.
The festive decorations decking out Amore e Amore takes Parker’s staff two weeks to install. Employees first tackle taking down the previous theme in the dining room, putting in the hours for extra pay, and for the fun of it.
S.O.S. Tiki Bar’s staff start decorating for Tiki Holiday a week before Thanksgiving.
“Between [the labor involved] and coming up with the food and beverage menu, and designing and ordering all of the merch, it’s wild how much time we put in, compared to less than 25 actual nights of business,” Jones said. “It’s an army of people contributing, but we love it, and always do!”
Marietta Melt Yard took a one-fell-swoop approach to decorating for December this year, closing after Halloween for a week to transform the restaurant’s viral “Ghostbusters” theme into Home Alone.
The temporary closures and the costs and labor involved in holiday pop-up makeovers seem worth the hassle, however, even as restaurants and bars prepare for the busiest dining season of the year.
“It’s not easy to get the word out about your restaurant,” Johnson said of choosing to launch the Elf pop-up at Wood’s Chapel. “The city is saturated with restaurants, and we want to stand out and invite people to check out Summerhill.”
Jones said Tiki Holiday increases business exponentially during December, with people lingering longer at the Decatur bar and ordering multiple rounds to see the different garnishes and interactive presentations from the bartenders. Despite the fun he and his staff have putting on Tiki Holiday, the added expenses involved don’t translate into an instant windfall.
Now in its eighth year, and with most of its decor set, Jones has learned to keep a sharp eye on the extra costs associated with Tiki Holiday’s themed cocktails, including buying smokers, glassware, more garnishes, and special spirits and ingredients not normally stocked behind the bar.
“It’s been an incredibly challenging time for the hospitality industry, and my heart goes out to everyone,” Parker said of why she keeps Amore e Amore’s holiday pop-up going. “We’ve all been struggling, and the answer has always been to work smarter, to find a way, and to build something that people will remember.”