This week's roundup includes a photo op with Lassie Los Angeles, rabbit garnishes in Toronto, plated ribbons in Chicago, and a peek inside the biggest parties surrounding the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington.
The New Media Party in Washington, returning for its second year, featured several inventive uses of technology at events. Produced by Event Farm, the party incorporated sponsors such as Vntana, which created holograms of guests that were then projected onto the walls of venue Carnegie Library. Other sponsors included Lyft, Microsoft, AOL, and Yelp, which created a listing for the event and allowed guests to post reviews and photos.
The annual event returned to the W Washington, D.C.’s recently renovated POV rooftop lounge for an April 24 event preceeding the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. As the event came to an end, guests were given to-go boxes from District Doughnut adorned with stickers featuring the magazine’s noted character Eustice Tilley.
The world's first Virgin Hotel opened in Chicago this winter; on April 16, the property hosted a grand-opening stunt that showcased the fun-loving personality of Virgin Group founder Richard Branson—and tied into local culture. Riffing off the Chicago-based film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, organizers developed the idea of having Branson ride a float through city streets in a stunt that mimicked the movie's famous parade scene.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel is playing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago through Sunday. To celebrate the beloved music on April 17, the opera's women's board hosted a carnival-theme celebration for 90 guests. For dessert, guests ate raspberry, lime, and white-chocolate-blueberry macarons plated with polka-dotted ribbons.
The Women’s Committee for the Corcoran Gallery of Art hosted its 60th annual Corcoran Ball on April 17 in Washington. Design Foundry suspended different sizes and styles of orange lanterns from the ceiling of the reception tent.
On April 18, Citi hosted a V.I.P. lounge at the Global Poverty Project's Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day Festival in Washington. MAC Presents created a custom "grass graffiti wall," which had neon logos for Citi, its "ThankYou" rewards program, and Global Citizens 2015 Earth Day.
ModCloth hosted the the “ModCloth IRL” fit shop April 9 to 11 in a historic bank building in downtown Los Angeles. Although the space was attractive on its own, organizers were careful to avoid letting that intricacy and grandeur take over brand messaging. They used brightly colored fabric to dress up the space in a modern but relaxed way.
On April 21, the New York-based Mediterranean restaurant Pergola hosted its annual spring party, which had an "Enchanted Forest" theme. Florist Ed Libby decked the space with spring-like elements including cherry blossoms and vines; he also created a living floral installation featuring the letter "P."
On April 26, Safe Kids Worldwide hosted a day devoted to safety tips for kids at the Lot in West Hollywood. Presented by Nationwide, the event included a photo op with a Lassie lookalike and an arrivals wall that featured sponsors' names in front of trimmed hedges.
From our roundup of tea party ideas, specialty cocktails from a 2011 National Ballet of Canada fund-raiser in Toronto were served in William and Ashley teacups and adorned with white rabbit garnishes.
