Buffets

For a new twist, Riviera Catering also set up stations that resembled food truck exteriors with splashy chrome finishes at the WTC860 event. The mock trucks served iconic New York foods, including baos and mini pizzas, and were approximately 10 feet high and 8 feet long.

To serve fresh fruit, Chicago catering firm Limelight inserts skewers into a decorative wall featuring colorful wallpaper that can be customized for any event. Guests then dip the fruit into accompanying sauces.

Wolfgang Puck Catering created a “chef shadowbox” station for an event at the Perot Museum of Science and Nature in Dallas. There, a chef prepared appetizers as guests viewed the behind-the-scenes action.

An Illinois bar mitzvah on March 12 had a Candy Land theme. Designer Event Chicago planned the event, as well as the design and concept for a sweets table—actually part of an entire sweets room—over which colorful candies dangled from multicolored ribbons of varying lengths. HMR Designs handled decor.

The Boston Children's Museum’s 2013 gala included a rather meta dessert table: The entire display took the form of a giant cake, decorated with paper flowers, and set with desserts such as cake pops, mini whoopie pies, mini Twinkies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

Patina assumed catering duties for the Recording Academy’s massive “Grammy Celebration,” the official after-party for the Grammy awards in Los Angeles in February. At the Candy Land-inspired event, the caterer’s dessert station offered sweets like blue chocolate popcorn, Pop Rocks shooters, and liquid chocolate s’mores—plus cotton candy trees, where guests could pluck their treats right from the branches.

At an in-office preview for its clients' wares during the holidays in 2015, Los Angeles-based PR agency BWR offered a metallic dessert bar decorated with the word “Joy” in marquee-style letters.

Last year in Chicago, Restoration Hardware hosted an opening event with a dessert bar that consisted of vintage-style candies presented in apothecary jars and on glass cake plates.

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Sterling Engagements hosted a party in Los Angeles in 2015, where vast catering options throughout the residential venue included a milk-and-cookies dessert bar.

In 2012, Tori Spelling and J.C. Penney celebrated the launch of the star’s line for kids, Little Maven, in Los Angeles. The glamping-style event included a sweets table where the dessert offerings sat upon rustic wood slabs.

In 2013, the New York City Opera staged the United States premiere of the opera Anna Nicole. The dessert table got a boudoir-inspired look, with a menu was written on mirrors in lipstick. Candy overflowed from jewelry boxes and glass jars, and Lucite displays offered pink cotton candy presented in paper cones.

In 2012, Toronto Public Library Foundation hosted its annual Book Lover's Ball. The evening invited guests to dine with big-name authors, and appropriately also included desserts inspired by literature. Books decorated the dessert tables, with typewriters, globes, and glasses adding to the literary look.

A 2012 launch in Los Angeles for Sh*t Girls Say played up the content from the book. To that end, speech bubbles decorated a candy buffet with messages like, “Can you do me a huge favor?” and “Shut up.” Brightly colored gerbera daisies also decorated the setup.

The Meridian International Center celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010 with its annual black-tie Meridian Ball in Washington. There, the dessert table had black-and-white trompe l'oeil look. It included candelabras, arrangements of monochromatic roses, and—of course—copious desserts.

At the National Urban League’s annual conference in 2010, a Target-sponsored welcome reception included a sweets table dominated by red—the on-brand color for the mass retailer. Candies included Swedish Fish, red and black jellybeans, and red-and-white Starlight peppermints.

In June, Patina Catering catered the opening of Skyspace Los Angeles, the observation deck that also includes a glass slide 1,000 feet above the city. As part of an elaborate catering offering, Patina served late-night hors d'oeuvres that were passed as the party came to a close. The grab-and-go boxes featured cheddar beef sliders on mini sesame buns, crispy tater tots, and mini milkshakes.

In June, Lancôme hosted an artful party to launch its newest products in New York. A unique open tray, oriented vertically, was reminiscent of architecture or candlesticks. It offered bites from Pinch Food Design.

During the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington in May, The New Yorker hosted a cocktail party where passed hors d'oeuvres from the W Washington D.C. were presented on trays featuring previous covers of the magazine.

At the flagship boutique opening for Hublot in New York in April, goat cheese and kalamata olive lollipops from CxRA lent a graphic, dramatic, black-and-white look against an all-black tray.

In June, the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted its Party in the Garden, and caterers paid special attention to food presentation on the tray. Sweet pea and pesto crostini from Union Square Events took on artful forms of their own.

At a Los Angeles event hosted by Century 21 Real Estate in July with a futuristic look and feel, hors d’oeuvres—such as lump crab cakes with remoulade and micro arugula—were served on modern-style white platters that included unusual cutout forms.

Last year in Los Angeles, Ted Baker hosted an event at Carondelet House, where Tres L.A. whipped up whimsical catering trays reminiscent of organic environments. On one presentation, moss and whole mushrooms surrounded mushroom griddle cakes.

Single floral stems framed hors d’oeuvres like mango Thai basil summer rolls from Union Square Events at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York in May.

Heinz launched a new yellow mustard last year in May, and hosted a barbecue-style event in New York to celebrate. In a bit of a meta moment—or at least a detail that clearly underscored the host’s marketing message—Heinz served mustard-topped corn dogs on trays emblazoned with the new product’s label.

For a luncheon with a “hat party” theme, New York caterer Abigail Kirsch created a playful arrangement of desserts, including a white chocolate "fence," citrus macaron "hat pops," peanut-butter-and-jelly tarts, miniature carrot cake, and Devil's Food cakes topped with flowers.

Last year, the Peninsula Chicago offered rotisserie potatoes in cones amid river rocks and bamboo shoots.

Along with savory snacks such as falafel sliders and Italian beef, guests ate desserts from a vintage candy bar. Decorated with prop cassette tapes, the bar had bowls of Dots and other nostalgic treats.

At a flavored popcorn station, custom-built stands had a false fill at the top so they never appeared empty. Serving staff refilled the popcorn at the base as needed.

Bottles from sponsor Belvedere were used in the ring toss. Winners received a band from Michele Watches.

Several featured cocktails were served atop white glass columns that were lit underneath with LED lights. The ingredients were printed on the front of the columns, and the napkins had the exact recipe.

A colorful canopy covered the outdoor food stations.

Fried chicken with buttermilk dressing, served with a house-made biscuit, long-cooked cavolo nero, summer succotash salad, and a chocolate chip or oatmeal cookie, by the Larder in Los Angeles

The design-your-own party mix Snack Trough station from Creative Edge Parties allows eventgoers to grab a bag and fill it with sweet and savory goodies, including spiced almonds, Turkish apricots, sesame sticks, dark chocolate bites, banana chips, caramel popcorn, candied ginger, mini grahams, and more. Pricing for the station varies depending on the size of the event, the variety of the menu, and the length of the event.

Custom-printed macarons from Mak-a-rohn offer a fun, personalized twist on the popular French sweet with images, logos, names, and initials. The confections come in a variety of flavors, including peppermint, birthday cake, toasted marshmallow, and even Fruity Pebbles. Pricing for custom-printed designs starts at $2.25 per macaron, along with a $90 imprint setup fee.