Sexy entrance

Marwen’s Paintbrush Ball in Chicago June 2 celebrated the nonprofit’s 25th anniversary, or silver birthday. To underscore the theme, guests entered the dinner tent through a tunnel of silver balloons.

Whiskey brand Bully Boy’s first anniversary celebration took place at Waterworks Museum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, June 1 with a no-official-invite policy. Guests had to figure out the party’s secret location by scanning QR codes on the back of posters, stickers, and coasters that they received upon ordering a Bully Boy drink at participating bars in the days prior to the event. Upon scanning the code, they were directed to a Web site that gave clues about the celebration’s secret location.

A classic and clean design dominated the look of Monday night’s C.F.D.A. Awards in New York. Perhaps the biggest visuals onstage were provided by a fashion show retrospective and the Princeton Footnotes, which performed a live tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, Tommy Hilfiger.

E3, the common name for the Entertainment Software Association's massive Electronic Entertainment Expo, wrapped Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Although the week started out with some bad news for the city of L.A. (that the show could relocate in 2013 if issues around the construction of the proposed Farmers Field and rebuilt convention center are not resolved swiftly), the show itself brought its usual big-time buzz and close to 50,000 attendees.

The Washington National Opera's annual ball took decor and catering directions from the theme of "Arab hospitality," which honored host venue the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. activities and entertainment took place in a series of tents, and the 500 guests sampled traditional Emirati desserts such as kamfaroush and gemat. A design centerpiece was a 23-foot starburst lantern lit by candles that the Kennedy Center built for the event.

The 27th annual Chefs' Tribute to Citymeals-on-Wheels took over the rink at Rockefeller Center Monday. With a cinematic theme, renowned chefs created dishes inspired by their favorite movies, including Jaws, The Perfect Storm, and The Godfather.

Give Kids the World worked with Hello Florida! to create a Night at the Museum theme for its Black & White gala Saturday night. The perimeter of the ballroom at the Peabody Orlando had several exhibits including a replica of the White House, pyramids of Egypt, temples of Tibet, and dinosaurs.

The Shoppes at Ocean Drive, a boutique department store venture between Miami’s Ocean Drive magazine and airport retail brand NewsLink, celebrated its grand opening May 31 at the Miami International Airport. The team from Barton G. produced the event, which included Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez performing a ribbon-cutting ceremony standing on a hot pink carpet.

The Ford's Theatre Society Annual Gala in Washington mixed musical performances with tributes to luminaries such as Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel and actor Morgan Freeman. Sunday's performance and dinner gala was the culmination of events over the weekend that included a V.I.P. reception that President Barack Obama hosted in the White House. About 550 people attended the events, which raised $1.5 million.

Social media played a bigger role in the CTV Upfront at Toronto's Centre for the Performing Arts May 31. To encourage guests to tweet using the #CTVUpfront hashtag and get the topic trending, screens in the reception space showed comments from the networking platform and vinyl wraps covered with past posts about CTV shows covered the pillars and bar tops.