Eye Candy: Festive Event Ideas to Get in the Valentine's Day Spirit

Looking for some Valentine's Day table inspiration? Check out this dining experience Freeform hosted in 2018 to promote the series Good Trouble. The brand parked three large moving trucks underneath the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles; the trucks opened to reveal three distinct, design-forward dining rooms inspired by the show's themes of friendship, love and young adulthood. The love-themed room (pictured) featured red balloons, framed pictures and an eye-catching neon heart sign. Freeform partnered with Blue Revolver to produce the event.

See more: Would You Host a Dinner Party Inside a Moving Truck?

This year, GODIVA celebrated Valentine’s Day with a larger-than-life public activation in New York from Feb. 8-9. Popping up in Herald Square and Flatiron Plaza were oversize installations of the brand’s Gold Ballotin and Goldman Heart boxes, ready for a unique photo op.

At the GODIVA experiences, brand ambassadors handed out free samples of products. The stunt's experiential partner was Department of Wonder and the PR agency was Lippe Taylor.

For Galentine’s Day—the unofficial holiday that celebrates female friendship—grocery store company Mariano’s teamed up with women-owned companies to create a series of festive cocktails. Pictured is The Freshie Organic Strawberry Paloma, made from fresh organic strawberries, Blanco tequila, grapefruit juice, ice, and a can of Freshie lime or grapefruit organic tequila seltzer.

At pop-up museum Happy Place, which came to Los Angeles in 2017, one of the Instagram-friendly rooms had larger-than-life letters spelling “XO” that guests could climb inside of. For an added fun touch, wallpaper featuring lipstick prints adorned the space.

If you want to keep that Valentine's Day spirit going year-round, Postal Petals is a farm-to-table fresh flower delivery service ideal for gifting or team-building experiences. Founded during the pandemic, the company allows shoppers to choose a box size, pick a theme or style for their flowers, and then pay for either a one-time delivery or a subscription service. Each box arrives with bundles of flowers that clients can break apart and design as they choose. Postal Petals was founded by Talia R. Boone, who has worked in brand strategy, marketing and PR for more than 15 years.

In 2015, Hallmark parent company Crown Media invited 400 guests to Southern California's Tournament House—the operating headquarters for the Tournament of Roses—for “The Richness of Romance,” an event promoting the network’s Valentine’s Day programming as well as its slogan, “the Heart of TV." The affair featured romantic touches in the holiday’s traditional red and pink hues as well as an abundance of roses, plus crystal chandeliers and dramatic rose centerpieces.

Other nods to Valentine's Day at the Hallmark dinner included an all-female violin ensemble dressed in flowing red evening gowns lining the path to dinner. Along Came Mary handled production and catering, and Kinetic Lighting bathed the venue in softly swirling patterns reminiscent of roses. See more: See a TV Network's Romantic Dinner

Last year, The Bake Shop at Las Vegas's Red Rock Casino created The Heartbreaker Box, which features a three-dimensional heart-shaped chocolate dessert just waiting to be broken into via the mini mallet that comes with the gift. Inside, expect chocolate-covered Oreo cookies, assorted marshmallows, mini heart chocolates and meringue kisses—plus the option for a sweet note.

In February 2020 at the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, Woman’s Day hosted its 17th annual Red Dress Awards. The B-52s performed some of their greatest hits during the evening, and a giant floral heart, which was created by Kate Moutenot of Largent Studios in Brooklyn and illuminated from within, served as the centerpiece for the event. The awards recognize advocates and survivors of heart disease.

Celebrity event designer Preston Bailey pulled out all the stops for his own wedding—which was held on Valentine’s Day in 2013 inside the Empire State Building. The lavish gathering had a creative, romantic touch: Black-and-white personal snapshots of the couple’s guests gave the hallway an art gallery-style look. What's more, a gold-painted tree stood at the entrance to the reception space, offering guests boxes of gourmet chocolate strung from pink ribbons.

In February 2020, Palais des Congrès de Montréal and Massivart joined forces to launch the Palais Seasons, a series of art installation projects at the convention center. As part of the seasonal programming, visitors could watch romantic movies in the convention center’s lounge, and in exchange for a donation to Montreal's Old Brewery Mission, they can also write love notes on a ribbon and hang them from a communal arch.

For Diffa’s Dining by Design event in New York in 2018, the School of Visual Arts created an all-red display with cylindrical elements. The goal was to create a sense of unity all in the representative color of the HIV/AIDS movement.

For Valentine’s Day in 2018, photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya partnered with art curation website Absolut Art to turn an underground subway tunnel in New York into a public art installation. The tunnel showcased thousands of Wijesooriya’s photographs of people kissing, as well as photos of bunnies, rainbows, flowers and puppies. Passersby were invited to select one photo from the installation to take with them.

Even though it's famously held in May, the iconic Met Gala typically offers a wealth of floral inspiration—and in 2016, the event’s staggering 1 million flowers had a Valentine’s Day-appropriate red and pink theme. The gala celebrated “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology,” and guests were greeted by a hand-stenciled hot-pink-and-red carpet, along with a 65-foot-tall double-helix structure fashioned from 400 yards of floral-print white lace placed on aluminum panels. The second helix comprised 200,000 roses, which were artificial to keep the helix under 1,500 pounds so it could be rigged entirely from the ceiling. Fresh red roses and cherry blossoms lined the room.

For dinner, Met Gala guests entered the Temple of Dendur through an arched doorway in a 70-by-20-by-10-foot wall made of 300,000 additional roses. Dinner tables featured red, burgundy and lavender florals, and custom-printed chargers had a deconstructed rose pattern. Raul Avila handled design and production.

See more: See How Tech and Fashion Mixed at the Met Gala

For Entertainment Weekly's annual pre-Emmys party in 2019, presented by L’Oréal Paris, producers Event Eleven worked with Floral Crush to create a photo op covered with deep red florals.

See more: Emmys 2018: 28 Splashy Decor Ideas From the Week's Biggest Parties

To accompany the virtual premiere of HBO Max series Love Life in 2020, WarnerMedia delivered physical care packages to VIP attendees. The hand-delivered boxes featured everything needed for the perfect at-home date night: a three-course meal from local restaurants, plus a bottle of wine and a make-your-own Manhattan cocktail kit. The delivery also included branded wine glasses, candles, an on-theme game and even a hand-held microphone to use during the after-party's livestreamed karaoke.

The 2019 Toronto Light Festival featured more than 30 installations from local and international artists. One Valentine's Day-appropriate installation was Michael Bublé’s Edge Lit Heart, a kinetic light sculpture inspired by Canadian singer's album Love (stylized as the red heart emoji). The sculpture incorporated hundreds of animated LEDs to light eleven acrylic panels. Toronto-based visual artist Craig Small created the sculpture.

See more: 9 Toronto Light Festival Highlights That Will Brighten Up Your Instagram Feed

For some pretty-in-pink Valentine's Day ideas, grab some inspiration from the inaugural Rosé Day L.A., held in Malibu, Calif., in 2018. Headlined by Moët & Chandon, the Instagram-friendly daylong picnic featured a DJ booth constructed with bright pink crates. The event was produced by Ben Biscotti of 1iota Productions, Tony Schubert of Event Eleven and hospitality veterans Bobby Rossi, Sylvain Bitton, JT Torregiani and David Jarret.

See more: Toast to Summer With These 18 Rosé-Inspired Event Ideas

The second edition of Rosé Day L.A., held in 2019, held even more memorable floral inspiration, including an immersive photo op from sponsor L'Oréal. Topping off the event? A petal shower, in which 5 million rose petals were dropped from a helicopter.

Opting for a bold red theme this Valentine’s Day? Get inspired by this over-the-top, Salvador Dalí-inspired birthday party held in 2020. Designed by Marc Friedland, the surrealist gathering took over the ornate California Club in Los Angeles, lining two 80-seat dining tables with lush, dark blooms inspired by Dalí paintings. See more: See Inside an Over-the-Top, Salvador Dalí-Inspired Birthday Party

To tie into Valentine's Day in 2021, haircare brand OGX worked with MKG to transform a Los Angeles car launch into an eye-catching—and COVID-safe—experience. The free-to-the-public car wash centered around the #UncapTheLove campaign messaging, with heart-shaped decor and messaging about love and self-confidence. See more: See This Colorful Car Wash Activation That Promoted OGX's Newest Products

In 2016, The Gathery designed a whimsical holiday press preview for Sephora in New York. The “home for the holidays” theme featured five traditional environments completely decoupaged in custom wrapping paper, some of which was derived from the brand’s color palette. The dining room setting included hot pink walls and a matching pink tablescape, complete with a paper turkey.