Travel Themes

The American Cancer Society’s Discovery Ball in 2013 in Chicago was dubbed “Passport to Discovery” and had a time-travel theme. As a nod to the nonprofit’s 100-year past, as well as its present and future, the fund-raiser drew inspiration from an old-fashioned train station, with props and decor including suitcases, trunks, and old street lamps. The registration desk was decorated to resemble a ticket counter.

To match the train theme at the Chicago Botanic Garden event, lampshades bore map imagery, clock numbers and gears wrapped tall lamps, and suitcases were stacked inside the bars.

Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS’s Dining by Design event in Chicago in November included multiple tables with travel themes. One, designed by Gunlocke/HBF, had miniature hot-air balloons soaring above it, as well as a globe, clocks, and maps as decoration.

For a wedding at Union Station in Los Angeles, Sterling Engagements displayed escort cards printed to look like train tickets inside vintage suitcases.

Variety and British Airways hosted a Los Angeles event in 2013—at a $30 million private manse—meant to celebrate the publication's “10 Brits to Watch” feature as well as the airline's nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Heathrow Airport on the A380. In the photo op area, guests could highlight the destinations they most wanted to visit by pinning their image to a map board.

Old Navy previewed its spring 2015 collection in New York last year with a road-trip-theme event, where guests could choose their own on-theme backdrops. They then took home prints of the images stamped to look like postcards.

Globes, from $5 to $12, available in the greater Toronto area from Southern Charm Vintage Rentals

Luggage tags, from $8.50 to $12 each, available nationwide from Eclectic Props