Random ideas

For the opening of New Balance’s first experience store in New York in August, the red carpet backdrop at the V.I.P. preview incorporated real running shoes mounted to a wall printed with the shoe brand’s logo.

During the VitaminWater Rooftop series during the Toronto International Film Festival in September, the Mint Agency created a step-and-repeat that displayed sponsor logos in antique frames.

Matthew Parker Events crafted lighting fixtures for a speakeasy-themed wedding using hats from a party supply store, decorative ribbon, corded wire, and filament bulbs.

A game inspired by the show Minute to Win It let guests stand in an air tube and try to grab as much prop money as they could in 60 seconds to win prizes from Neiman Marcus.

In what Target called a “vertical fashion show,” acrobats danced, posed, and catapulted down runways on the side of 620 Fifth Avenue, one of the buildings that flanks the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, in 2005.

The cocktail napkins for the 2002 opening of Prada’s store in SoHo in New York were useful in two ways, with an itinerary and maps showing the locations for the night’s multiple parties.

At the 2008 Robin Hood Foundation gala, XO laptops on each dinner table displayed menus, statistics about the organization’s work, and images of flowers, and then were donated to city schoolchildren after the event.

To celebrate the renovation of Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2007, Roy Braeger designed a vertical stage that tied into the event’s construction-themed decor and gave guests an unobstructed view of the musicians.

The Broad Contemporary Art Museum’s 2008 opening party in Los Angeles, produced by Ben Bourgeois, had a floating stage that descended from the ceiling for an attention-getting dinner show.

At the 2004 International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Norwegian architecture firm MMW designed a large tube that connected the Javits Center’s main space with its north pavilion, a stylish way to join two large spaces.

The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2009 ArtEdge benefit had a lighthearted feel, with childhood games and activities including a large swing set.

Here’s how to create drama overhead (or hide a less-than-desirable ceiling): Van Wyck & Van Wyck wove bands of fabric together above the Whitney Museum of American Art’s 2008 Art Party.

For a private dinner in 2006, JMVisuals created an unexpected overhead lighting trick: rows of frosted votives suspended from the ceiling on square Lucite tiles. 

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Johnson & Johnson displayed photographs on a wall that curved upward.

For a 2006 Motorola event, KSE Productions suspended a metal platform from the ceiling as an unconventional lectern and used stretch-fabric video screens as a backdrop.

At the 2006 Screen Actors Guild awards in Los Angeles, Stanlee Gatti created lavish displays of upside-down calla lilies, dramatic decorations that also hid poles.

At the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s awards in 2005, an oversize mirror encrusted with Swarovski crystals displayed a live telecast of the arrivals during the cocktail hour. 

LDJ Productions and Brenton Catering served champagne cocktails in test tubes at hair-care brand Joico’s chemistry-lab-inspired 30th anniversary party in New York in 2005.

Instead of the typical white tent, Van Wyck & Van Wyck used an eye-catching striped version at House & Garden’s 2006 New Tastemakers issue party. 

Travel & Leisure used oversize balloons as a cheap and effective way to mark a pathway for its 35th birthday celebration, held in Los Angeles in 2006.

Marriott’s “Association Masters” dinner in 2005 used glowing triangular tables from now-defunct Lounge 22.

There was no head table at TD Bank’s 2009 employee awards dinner in New York. All attendees sat at a single, amoeba-shaped table.

For a GQ sales meeting dinner in 2004, one giant X-shaped table seated all 90 attendees. 

The Dia Art Foundation’s gala in 2006 had glowing circular tables.

For the 120th anniversaries of Moët & Chandon’s White Star label and the Statue of Liberty, Publicis Events used 3-D projections to create a four-minute light show on the monument in 2006.

Guests helped themselves to water-cooler cocktails at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2009 ArtEdge benefit.

JKLD lit a 2002 Bulgari watch launch at Studio 545 in New York from the outside in, thanks to a giant light board suspended by a 133-foot crane.

For the opening of the Hearst Tower in 2006, Van Wyck & Van Wyck brought in aerialists to perform 100 feet above the crowd, a dramatic twist on the traditional ribbon cutting. 

David Beahm suspended an upside-down bed of tulips, with roots and all, above a table at the Horticultural Society of New York’s 2002 Flowers and Design gala.

Microsoft worked with Maloney & Fox, BongarBiz, and Grounded Aerial Dance Theater to create a memorable live performance on a New York billboard to launch Windows Vista in 2007. Aerialists rappelled down the side of a building to create a 3-D representation of the logo.

For the reopening of New York’s Le Cirque in 2006, the Susan Magrino Agency had the restaurant’s owner, Sirio Maccioni, record the R.S.V.P. voice-mail greeting, a surprising and personal touch that can be replicated for film premieres, incentive events, or almost any gathering.

To create a modern, all-white look for a 2006 dinner at Manhattan’s Pier 60, Empire Force Events hid the venue’s colorful, patterned carpet with a layer of large, white confetti. 

For the Whitney Museum’s 2006 Art Party in New York, planners considered what guests saw underfoot and covered a black carpet with silver sequins.

Waiters didn’t have to remember what they were serving (and guests didn’t have to ask) when now-defunct Match Catering printed T-shirts with food descriptions for a 2004 BizBash event.

For the 2004 launch of Inside CNN in New York’s Time Warner Center, Brand Marketers integrated outfitted staffers in T-shirts into a presentation with flat-screen panels broadcasting a live feed of the network. 

XA, the Experiential Agency, used long grosgrain ribbons to simply and effectively divide a large space at a 2006 Tag Heuer event.

French magician Gérard Majax worked with Louis Vuitton to create an inventive product launch in 2002. It involved special mirrored headgear that guests used to view products suspended upside-down from the ceiling in a dark room. The trick created the illusion that the items were floating right-side-up.

Soho Cabana and Florenzia furniture

40- by 40-foot illuminated cube tent

’50s themed booths, bars, props, and more

An arts-and-crafts activity called "Hanky Panky" gave people the chance to decorate purchased panties using lace, ribbons, and rosettes. An on-site seamstress finished sewing the design and bagged them for guests to take home.