ANIMATION

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.

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.

At the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, presenting sponsor Belvedere offered refreshing beverages made with their Lemon Tea vodka, including the Lemon Tea Classic Punch, a drink that featured sherbet, black tea, and a mint sprig garnish.

At Barbra Streisand's recent fund-raiser for the Cedars-Sinai Women's Heart Center in Malibu, guests helped themselves to a raw fruit and veggie bar. In place of a tablecloth, organizers used a quilt to match the vintage-inspired aesthetic of the event.

Nothing says summer like fresh seafood. At the Power Ball in Toronto, V.I.P. guests helped themselves to shrimp and freshly shucked oysters at a chilled seafood bar provided by Petite Thuet.

Petite Thuet also served a colorful dish of seafood paella at the Power Ball.

A garden-inspired dish featuring seasonal vegetables by Great Performances in New York can stand in for a traditional floral centerpiece.

En Ville Event Design & Catering in Toronto created a picnic-themed display of fruit, bread, and cheese for a summer event.

For Heineken's Inspire Tour in 2010, the food was adapted to the New York market with items like Reuben sandwiches, Chinese dumplings, hot dogs, and falafels served from street carts.

Guests at Stella McCartney's 2011 spring preview were treated to shaved ice by People's Pops in New York.

At Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 collection preview, waitstaff passed citrus-infused cocktails in Mason jars.

Also at Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 collection preview, dessert stands offered sweets from Coolhaus and Pie Corps (pictured). At the latter, guests could also pick up prepackaged jars of fruit cobbler.

McCartney's carnival-themed presentation also had a mac 'n' cheese station. Guests could grab a mini serving wrapped in a spinach cone from a Ferris-wheel stand, or opt for a full cup that could be topped with veggie bacon bits, truffle oil, jalapeños, scallions, or sriracha sauce.

For the grand opening of the Miami Airport Convention Center in Miami earlier this year, the venue's catering team created an edible garden using toasted pumpernickel crumbs as "dirt" with spears of baby carrots, asparagus spears, and zucchini, as well as baby tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella "flowers."

At this year's Luminescence gala in Chicago, passed canapes included cured salmon lollipops, displayed on beds of wheatgrass.

As part of Colgate's White Beauty Bar event in Los Angeles, Skintimate treated attendees to a self-serve sorbet station.

Boston-based event design firm LoLo Event Design recommends setting up self-service bars at summer events. The display includes premixed drinks in large Mason jars, along with fresh herbs and seasonal flowers.

For a fun spin on a summer favorite, LoLo Event Design has caterers serve passed bite-size ice cream cones and ice cream sandwiches.

At this year's Tony Awards gala in New York, guests could serve themselves cups of YoArt's frozen yogurt. There were 80 different toppings, including fresh fruit and gummi candies.

Tabú nightclub at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is offering several Fourth of July-inspired cocktails this summer. The White Night (pictured) is a sweet and savory blend of Malibu rum, Frangelico, Rumplemintz, and cream strained and served over ice, then garnished with raspberries and blueberries.

At Barbra Streisand's fund-raiser for the Cedars-Sinai Women's Heart Center in Malibu, colorful floral arrangements in wooden vases played off the outdoor setting.

For the dinner, held inside Streisand's home, the summery atmosphere featured neutral tones and fresh-picked centerpieces.

California-based rental company Archive Rentals offers a large collection of authentic vintage Western and camping-themed items, including reclaimed barn-wood tables, camping trailers, Airstream trailers and canoes.

The centerpieces at Diffa's Garden gala in Chicago this year included candelabras wrapped in greenery and white flowers surrounded by Mason jars holding tealights.

For the Central Park Conservancy's annual "Taste of Summer" event in New York, designer Marc Wilson punched up the all-white furnishings with drapes and throw pillows in bright pink, green, and yellow hues.

The V.I.P. area of Toronto's Power Ball was styled with rustic elements for an English-picnic look. Designers used loading palettes as banquet seating and cocktail tables.

Markus Daly Ryan produced Univision's Deportes launch in New York, where picnic tables formed the bulk of the seating and found lumber was turned into cocktail tables for a neighborhood-block-party feel.

At Stella McCartney's Resort 2013 presentation, a large cart overflowing with roses and peonies stood near the entrance to the venue. As guests left, they were given small bouquets or single stems as festive gifts.

At Glossed & Found's Meredith Wendell luncheon in Chicago, A Perfect Event placed giant, colorful pool inflatables throughout the venue to set the tone for the pool party theme.

For the picnic-inspired Absolut Orient Apple launch party in New York last summer, organizers covered the floor of the indoor venue with sod, and brought in live trees and wooden barrels filled with thousands of apples.

At a Belvedere-sponsored event during the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, guests sat on haystacks covered with bright orange blankets and chevron-patterned pillows.

Chevron-patterned linens were also used on cocktails tables, and sunflower bouquets served as centerpieces.

At this year's Casa de Don Julio event in New York, the outdoor terrace was decorated with Mexican-inspired decor, with barrels and wooden benches used for guest seating and cocktail tables.

This year's Adam Smith Awards gala, which took place in Washington, D.C., had a red-white-and-blue theme.

LoLo Event Design offers hand-painted handkerchiefs that can serve as table numbers at a garden event. Geraniums in a terra cotta pot have a more casual feel than an elaborate formal centerpiece.

LoLo Event Design also creates message-in-a-bottle place cards for beach-inspired events.

At Sears' and Kmart's 2012 collection press preview, the design team brought in foliage, benches, and six live canaries. The birds chirped from freestanding cages placed around the product vignettes.

For a recent pool party, the team at Swank Productions kept the decor streamlined, with a mostly white color palette, mirrored furnishings, and plenty of sheer draping.

For an indoor summer-themed gathering, Swank producers used beach balls to create playful "chandeliers." Tables were covered in summery yellow and orange linens.

At Glossed & Found's book launch party designed by A Perfect Event, guests took home summer cocktail recipes provided by Grand Marnier.

Megavision Arts created 2-D and 3-D wall projections as a nod to the pool theme at a party to celebrate newly renovated Los Angeles venue Nic's Beverly Hills.

The recent Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows 100th anniversary bash kicked off with a performance by the Aqualillies, a troupe of water-ballerinas.

At the Power Ball in Toronto, piñatas made for a kid-friendly activity.

At the Seersucker Ride and Social in Washington, D.C., guests enjoyed music from a 1920s jazz band. As a nod to the theme, participants dressed in seersucker and Jazz Age fashions.

Guests also played lawn games like croquet at the Seersucker Ride and Social.

At last year's Stella McCartney spring preview, guests played ping-pong at a table set up outside.

Zen Arts in Southern California offers an array of entertainment that can take place in or around a pool, including their transparent spheres that hold performers and float on water.

At the Power Ball in Toronto, guests took a ride on wooden swings in the main party area.

At Sunglass Hut's summer block party in Miami, family-friendly games included corn hole, bocce ball, ping-pong, and hopscotch.

Pop-a-shot basketball was a popular activity at Sunglass Hut's summer party.

For Yahoo's Genome relaunch party in New York, organizers brought in a trio of synchronized swimmers from Gotham Synchro to swim in the venue's indoor pool. The water dancers sported alien-inspired body suits as a nod to the event's futuristic theme.

Dubbed "Hannah Mermaid," model Hannah Fraser is available for corporate events, and specializes in underwater "aquabatics" and open-water diving.

Hewlett-Packard marked the launch of its new portfolio of Windows 8 touch technology products with an event in October that had attendees controlling patterned projections. Stations set up around the perimeter of New York's Terminal 5 let guests play with touch-screen computers while simultaneously changing the look and color of the lighting that illuminated panels overhead.

UrbanDaddy's "white room" event—an affair created in partnership with Stoli to promote the vodka brand's new campaign and flavors—invited guests to create the night's decor using paint and brushes. The November party in New York also supplied its attendees with lab coats and goggles to protect clothes from their creative tasks.

Lifestyle images layered with infrared technology at Target's after-party for the MTV Movie Awards in 2008 allowed guests to interact with the images using the heat and movement of their bodies.

To encourage attendees to make on-site donations at its December Charity:Ball in New York, nonprofit Charity:Water sold yellow helium-filled balloons for $5 each. Guests could release their brightly colored inflatables into a 28-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide net rigged to the ceiling of the 69th Regiment Armory. As the inflatable orbs filled the structure, it started to resemble a giant yellow Jerry can, Charity:Water's signature symbol.

At the Design Industry Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design event in Chicago in November, the table for CS Interiors designed by Casa Spazio with Atelier Turner was reminiscent of an artist's studio. The vignette inside the Merchandise Mart had paper walls, ample brushes, and open jars of paint, and guests were encouraged to add to the background mural.

David Stark's design for Cooper-Hewitt's 2011 National Design Awards was dominated by the use of fluorescent tape supplied by 3M. In addition to an installation that displayed a scale version of the art institution's Upper East Side home, the cocktail hour had a wall where gala guests could draw or write about what design means to them using brightly colored adhesive strips.

Combining a live performance by Coldplay with digital components, the American Express Unstaged concert in October 2011 saw the stage decorated with a backdrop of butterflies. The video installation that was projected on LCD screens for the Madrid show was a collage of designs the audience members were invited to create online.

In 2009, Louis Vuitton debuted its new in-store boutique at Saks Fifth Avenue by building an indoor garden at the New York store. The centerpiece of the event's design was a wishing tree, where guests were invited to pen their answers to the question "Where will your journey take you?" and hang the messages on strands of ribbon dangling from its branches.

During the September 2010 run of New York Fashion Week, Chanel reopened its SoHo store with a big bash. To leave most of the retail space free of additional decor elements—and allow the 500 guests to move around—the producers erected two black tents outside and turned the inside walls into an interactive graffiti room. In this area, guests could use custom paint cans to digitally tag oversize LED screens.

To highlight the event's focus on children and fund-raising for a charter school, the 2006 Robin Hood Foundation gala had giant chalkboards in the reception area set up in New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. David Stark sketched local landmarks and iconic scenes on the walls, and, during the event, guests could add their own designs with chalk provided in bowls on the cocktail tables.

John Laraio of Mobius8 performed at the Fusion Fashion & Art Show December 6 at LMNT Contemporary Art Space in Miami. Mobius8 is electronica performance art that combines lighting, visual effects, and lasers that morph to the beat of dance music.

Massive, stylized decor pieces meant to evoke the look of rose petals were suspended overhead. Performers from the Red Hots also soared above to amp up the drama.

Trio Zazi welcomed guests at the entrance, giving a performance from floating platforms.

Guests plucked napkins off a performer's dress. The character, known as "Napkin Lady," can be booked through the theater for private events, as can a variety of characters affiliated with the Redmoon for Hire program.