Washington DC Trends and Ideas for Food Preparation, Décor and Rentals, Event Inspiration, Business Entertaining, Gift Planning and Launch Parties in Washington DC by BizBash

Washington DC Event Planners for Trendy New Releases, Styles, Fashion and Display

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Trends & Ideas GET INSPIRED A Look at Viral Marketing and Media Culture From the Creator of Flash Mobs Creating (and Sending) Video Messages With MeTV Maya Lin's Techno-Landscapes Show Opens at the Corcoran The Shepard Fairey Effect on Marketing and Event Design Talking to Doug Jaeger, the Adventurous Marketer Who Ticked Off MoMA Last Week   BUSINESS ENTERTAINING Trapeze School Offers High-Flying Teambuilding A New Option for Group Culinary Outings Making a Corporate Group Into a Rock Band Ideas for Entertaining Summer Associates in Washington Firms Are Scaling Back and Re-Thinking Programming for Summer Associates Importers Debut Provençal Wine Tastings Chef Offers Dessert-Based Teambuilding Challenges Cheap, Kid-Friendly Ideas for Take Your Child to Work Day Where Can You Find Up-and-Coming DJs? Cooking Classes With a Top Chef Alumnus   DECOR AND RENTAL IDEAS For Rent: Where to Find Stylish Sofas A 3-D Way to Launch a Product Colin Cowie Launches a la Carte Floral Service Corcoran Ball Trend: Settings That Mix Textures and Patterns Ring Leaders: 5 Ways to Finish Off a Place Setting Interactive Projections That Double as Decor and Content   GIFT IDEAS Organic, Locally Made Cookies for Gifts or Favors Edible Gifts at All Price Points How Do You Thank Speakers or Presenters? A More Sophisticated Gift for Snackers A New Gift for Out-of-Towners Design-Conscious Desktop Gifts For Useful Gifts, Brides Goes Postal   FOOD IDEAS Low-Cost, Crowd-Pleasing Catering An Outing to the Farmers' Market to Source Cocktail Ingredients Pastry Chef Gears New Bakery Towards Corporate Clients Fancy Entrées, Cheap Desserts: Mix-and-Match Menus A Local Deli With Philly Flavor Cute, Budget-Friendly Desserts A New Source for Homemade Goodies and Gift Baskets An Old World Chocolate-Making Class Cutting the Hors D'oeuvres? Try These Inventive Bar Snacks     FRESH FACE    11.04.09 9:00 AM Award-Winning Washington Mixologist Offers Custom Cocktails and Classes Derek M. Brown Photo: Jim Webb Derek M. Brown is a font of bartending information. He can talk at length about how the Tom Collins got its name (from a joke, not a man), the first bartender (Jerry Thomas), or why, in his opinion, cocktails are one of America’s greatest contributions to the world, next to baseball and jazz. A certified sommelier who trained at the Beverage Alcohol Resource Program, Brown was named the 2009 Bartender of the Year by Washington City Paper for his work at the Gibson, where he still pours a few nights a week. Looking for a way to combine his love of cocktail history and his knowledge of spirits and wine, he started Better Drinking early this year, offering private classes and bartending services for events. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Mad Men, FreshFarm Markets THE SCOUT    11.02.09 9:00 AM 50 Budget-Friendly Ideas for Holiday Parties: Food, Gifts, Decor, and More MoMA's pop-up centerpiece Photo: Courtesy of MoMA Design Store 1-3. Skip cupcakes for a fresh, high-quality sheet cake. Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago makes spice cake with apples, brown sugar frosting, and streusel; a half-sheet for $130 feeds 45. Mäni’s Bakery in Los Angeles makes an organic carrot-raisin cake, which costs $160 for a half-sheet and serves 65. Miami’s Yummy Cakes and More can make its chocolate explosion cake, with a half-sheet (enough for 65 guests) starting at $65. 4. A low-tech, high-impact way to serve shots is to create your own ice shooters with Pure Modern's Cool Shooter shot mold, available for $12.95 each. 5-6. Forgo the frat-party look and stash cold drinks in a stylish ice tub, like one from Broadway Party Rentals in New York, which rents for $30 and up. Or, to dress up a plain bin and keep things cool, Classic Party Rentals provides the 6 Velon chilling wrap (prices vary). MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Corporate Holiday Parties, iStar Financial, Paul Wilmot Communications, The Economist THE SCOUT    10.26.09 9:00 AM Cort's New Line of Glowing LED Furniture Cort's Luna Lighting collection Photo: Courtesy of Cort Event Furnishings Cort Event Furnishings recently launched a new line of LED furniture called the Luna Lighting collection. Rental items include bars, bar-height tables, and pedestals that are lit from within by battery-operated LEDs that last up to eight hours. The lights come in eight colors (red, white, blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and purple), and can be programmed to illuminate the pieces in a solid hue, or fade or flash from color to color. Brushed stainless steel tabletops and frames give the collection a polished look and help make the pieces sturdier. The modular design of the collection offers flexibility as well. The bar can be configured in circular, serpentine, or perpendicular shapes. Pedestals can be turned into tables with round or rectangular tabletops, and can also be connected to create glowing columns. The pieces are available throughout the U.S. and the company will deliver to Canada, depending on the size of the order. Prices range from $56 to $600.   —Lisa Cericola THE SCOUT    10.22.09 4:21 PM 6 New Products Spotted at the BizBash New York Expo Cloth Connection's new overlay Photo: BizBash FROM NEW YORK More than 200 exhibitors displayed a range of products and services for events at the BizBash Expo at the Javits Center on Wednesday. Here are some new items that caught our attention on the bustling trade show floor. 1. Cloth Connection just released a line of overlays called the Artistic Braided collection. The sparkly linens are available in an array of colors, including gold, silver, black, copper, red, turquoise, and purple. The linens are available throughout the U.S. and pricing varies, as the overlays are created to order. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Bizbash New York Expo THE SCOUT    10.19.09 9:00 AM New Company Offers Affordable Video for Events or Web Sites Video stills from Your Story Everywhere projects Photo: Your Story Everywhere Recently launched video production company Your Story Everywhere specializes in affordable minute-long films for Web sites, whether viral marketing campaigns or informative documentary-style pieces. The Columbus, Ohio-based company can also handle longer projects like tribute videos or footage for award shows, which are available on DVD. For short films, typically the time from shoot to finished video is approximately 14 days. The company sends clients periodic updates as a film is being edited so they can follow the video's progress and request changes. Unlike other video production companies, prices for projects are deteremined by the length of the video. A fully produced and edited 60-second video is $1,000, a 90-second video is $2,000, and a 120-second piece is $3,000. Longer videos are priced on request. Travel costs and a la carte options like high-definition cameras and motion graphics are additional.   —Lisa Cericola THE SCOUT    10.14.09 9:00 AM Art, Food, and Wine Activities for Groups Screenprinting classes at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center Photo: Courtesy of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center These group-friendly activities help bring employees together while teaching new skills. 1. Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring offers hands-on art classes for groups. Ranging from collaborative bookmaking to papermaking and screenprinting, sessions for as many as 15 people may be held in the facility's art gallery or on in a classroom. Pricing is based on the number of participants and the activity chosen, but half-day classes for 15 students typically range from $300 to $500. Catering is not provided but participants can bring in their own food and beverages. MORE >> THE SCOUT    10.12.09 9:00 AM Budget-Friendly Invitation Makeovers Kira Evans Design's 2008 and 2009 invitations for an ERA Real Estate event Photos: Courtesy of Kira Evans Design ERA Real Estate's Leadership Team Awards 2008: The Parsippany, New Jersey-based company holds an annual dinner for its employees. Last year, Los Angeles-based Kira Evans Design created an Art Deco-inspired invitation with heavy silver foils and an embossed logo. 2009: ERA scaled back and went with a rain-forest theme, which allowed Evans to use nature photography to create an invitation for one-third of the price. Four-color printing also reduced production costs, but still resulted in a high-impact look. MORE >> RELATED TOPICS Invitations THE SCOUT    10.05.09 9:00 AM A New, Attention-Getting Format for Meetings and Presentations "The Morning Show With Scott Bloom" Photo: Scott Janelli Looking for a way to spice up a conference presentation or sales meeting? "The Morning Show With Scott Bloom" is a new talk show-style format for business meetings. Hosted by Scott Bloom, a Los Angeles-based M.C. and moderator with 15 years of experience, the program is customized to fit each client's needs. Bloom can host a scripted question-and-answer session with a C.E.O. or presenter or act as a moderator or an M.C., moving speakers from topic to topic. Bloom can also provide introductions and banter to warm up an audience, then turn over the stage to the presenter. Because staging and audiovisual needs are minimal, "The Morning Show" can take place in venues ranging from hotel ballrooms to large conference rooms. A riser and two stools are ideal, but some companies may opt for more elaborate settings with pipe and drape and branded graphics. Planners can provide their own backdrop or have Bloom's team source items for an additional fee. Pricing starts at $13,500, which includes a customized program as well as Bloom's hosting duties. Travel costs are additional.   —Lisa Cericola READERS' FORUM    09.29.09 9:00 AM What's the Weirdest Request You've Heard From a Guest? Jack Morton Worldwide's Sarah Shulman “For a corporate event, one of the big shots wanted to know what hotels in Chicago would let him bring a skunk, because he wouldn’t go anywhere without his pet. Someone in our office was able to find a bed-and-breakfast that agreed to make arrangements for him.” —Katherine Parris, Events by Parris, Toronto “'Please change my child’s diaper.'” —Sarah Shulman, director of program management, Jack Morton Worldwide, New York “The weirdest request I’ve received was for the shirt off my back—literally. At our annual outdoor festival we sell apparel, and one year I happened to be wearing the last fleece vest. A guest attempted to purchase one, realized there were no more available, and asked for the one I was wearing. For the good of the cause, I handed it over.” —Amanda M. Burks, manager of corporate relations and special events, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio MORE >> THE SCOUT    09.28.09 9:00 AM Seating With Customizable Upholstery Lounge 22 offers customized upholstery Photo: Courtesy of Lounge 22 Two major event furniture providers have new, customizable options that allow you to emblazon seating with logos, customized designs, or photographic imagery. Lounge22's new upholstery service makes it possible to cover the company's modern-looking Congo line of chairs and sofas with customized images. The available fabrics are a heavyweight poly-cotton canvas or a polyester with the look and feel of heavy silk. Planners work with Lounge22 to provide the patterns, and the turnaround time for the upholstery is about three weeks. The Congo chair with custom printing is available for rent starting at $325 each, and the sofa rental starts at $500 each; the company can also store the custom covers for future use at no extra charge. Rentals and the upholstery service are available in the U.S. and Canada. 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