#ThrowbackThursday: 12 Event Design Ideas from Past Summer Benefits

Make-A-Wish Southern Florida and donor InterContinental Miami started the celebration early with a VIP kickoff party in September for the 25th annual InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball that took place later in the year on Nov. 2. The cocktail soiree featured food stations by InterContinental Miami’s executive chef Jhonnatan Contreras, decorated in a medieval style as a nod to this year’s gala theme, Masterpiece XXV, which is an interpretation of Game of Thrones. An ice sculpture of wolves adorned the sushi bar. Pictured here, the dessert “cave” was guarded by an elaborately carved chocolate dragon.

Last July, at the Tanglewood Music Center in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra celebrated its season with its annual gala in the center’s new Linde Center for Music and Learning. Following cocktail hour, guests enjoyed a three-course dinner throughout various spaces in the new center. See more: What You Might Have Missed from the 2019 Summer Benefit Season

More than 300 guests gathered at the Brooklyn Museum for 2018's Yellow Ball, hosted by American Express and its Platinum Card creative director Pharrell Williams. The evening, which benefited Young Audiences Arts for Learning, was named and inspired by Williams, who explained the theme to attendees: “Yellow is the color of creativity and curiosity. It serves as a representation of the bright light we are shining on the need for arts education and its incredible power to paint a brighter future for us all.” The night featured a multi-room art experience by Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture, performances from magician and endurance artist David Blaine, and musical performances by Missy Elliott, A$AP Ferg, and DJ Stretch Armstrong. As colorful twist, guests arrived on a yellow “red” carpet.

Nearly 900 guests gathered for the annual Wolf Trap Ball in 2018, raising $1.7 million in support of the foundation’s programs. Held at the Filene Center at the Wolf Trap for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Va., the event was hosted in partnership with the British Embassy. The decor by Silver Lining Design Group featured nods to Great Britain, including images of the Union Jack, streetscapes, and the iconic London Eye.

For the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner, Hargrove decorated the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington with rainbow draping, spherical balloons in varying sizes, disco balls, and HRC graphics with the message “TurnOut.” See more: 15 Colorful Ideas From Summer Benefits

The San Francisco Symphony's 2017 gala, which was held at San Francisco City Hall, featured four concurrent dinners. The largest one was the colorful patron’s dinner, which was housed in a 12,000-square-foot tent erected next to Davies Symphony Hall. The Blueprint Studios-designed space was inspired by modern chinoiserie art and fashion.

The tabletop decor at the 2017 Zoo Ball in Chicago, which featured an African safari theme, included decorative rope, custom wood plinths, papyrus grass, and classic camping lanterns. A starlight pattern was projected on the ceiling of the tent. See more: 18 Cool Ideas From Summer Benefits

World Wildlife Fund Canada's inaugural Pandamonium fundraiser took place in 2016 at Andrew Richard Designs in Toronto. Toronto cocktail bar BarChef offered guests cocktails from a garden-like station inspired by the event's theme, "Doom & Bloom," celebrating the resilience of nature. See more: 14 Inspiring Ideas From Summer Benefits

For the 2014 gala, then in its 21st incarnation and which raised a record $2.2 million, some 1,400 guests donned their best metallics, turbans, and tunics in accordance of the July 26 evening’s theme, “One Thousand Nights and One Night: Sleepless Nights of Scheherazade.” Helping oversee various production aspects for the massive undertaking, not to mention realizing the concept and design set forth by founder Robert Wilson, was a small army. That included Elisabetta di Mambro, Wilson’s longtime producer; along with AJ Weissbard; new on-site center director Elle Dennis; installation curator Noah Khoshbin; Watermill Center events director Pinki Patel; and event production and stage manager Laurent Le Bec. As the centerpiece of the entrance, Annick Lavallée-Benny's "N.U.A.G.E.S." was an imposing fixture constructed from wood, chicken wire, cotton batting, polyfill, and fishing line. The conception of clouds was inspired by the magical flying carpets that are featured throughout the tales of One Thousand and One Nights. See more: 12 Fairy Tale-Inspired Ideas From the Watermill Benefit

At the Historic House Trust of New York City's Founders Award gala in 2013, 360 Design Events matched the decor to the theme by hanging hats in and around the tent set up at Gracie Mansion. The dinner's theme was "hats off," so the design firm used colorful ribbons to suspend dozens of straw hats from trees in the garden and the tent ceiling. And to prevent waste, guests were invited to take home the headwear as a memento of the evening.

In 2013, the Big Bang Bash took over the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to celebrate the opening of the Viktor & Rolf Dolls exhibition; the gala also marked the opening of the Luminato multidisciplinary arts festival. A conveyor belt served everything from cocktails to cupcakes to poached lobster tails. Drinks included "the Bomb," made with Ketel One vodka, elderflower cordial, and lemon; and "the V&R" was made with Bombay Sapphire Gin, Earl Grey tea syrup, lemon juice, and sparkling water.

The Chicago Botanic Garden hosted its ninth annual Summer Dinner Dance in 2013. For dinner, a tent decorated by HMR Designs created a garden-within-a-garden setting. The tent was draped in moss silk and strung with nine birdcage chandeliers. The cages, in turn, were strung with white lilies, and pillars were wrapped in trellises. At each green-silk-covered table, centerpieces held samples of the Botanic Garden's floral species, including lisianthus, garden roses, spray roses, and hydrangeas. See more: 19 Ideas From Summer Benefits