Balloons

Designer Adrian Wu filled the Studio at World MasterCard Fashion Week with playful balloon trees. Models walked the runway—a path of green Astroturf—wearing theatrical dresses and masks from the movie V for Vendetta.

More playful components included bites presented on platters that hung from large white balloons marked with the AOL logo.

Artist Justin Broadbent created a glowing basketball court in the Weston Family Learning Centre. It was designed to feel like a high school basketball game, with cheerleaders and coaches lining the court.

Beneath the floating decor, Chair-Man Mills provided Bormioli glasses and colourful blue napkins that brightened the tables. As a small gift, wine stoppers topped with a glass globe awaited guests at their place settings.

A second, all-white lounge area had a ceiling of balloons, glowing bars, and more plush seating. The room also had a street-style hot dog cart, an ice cream bar, and a stage that housed the late-night entertainment.

The large balloons marked with the names of Fox shows also led the way to the upfront's after-party at the Trump Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park.

The indoor pool area, located on the second floor of the venue, was decorated with large clear and silver balloons. A bar topped with a silver sequin table cloth stood at the far end of the room.

As part of AOL and T-Mobile's Signature Sounds program, indie pop band Fun took the stage at the House of Blues on June 4, performing a set that included their hit "We Are Young"—which also happens to be the highest-selling song of the year so far.

An archway of colored balloons (acquired locally through the Village Party Store) marked the entrance to Monday evening's presentation for the Stella McCartney resort 2013 collection at the New York Marble Cemetery.

The associate ambassador board of the American Cancer Society hosted its Skyline Soiree at Chicago's River East Art Center in July. Playing off the society's tagline—"the official sponsor of birthdays"—the whimsical event had a birthday-party theme replete with giant balloons floating above bars and in place of floral centerpieces on tables.

LongHouse is a 16-acre campus in East Hampton founded by Jack Lenor Larsen, who also founded the eponymous decorative fabric company that is still a leader today. His preserve and museum have quietly become a major player in the arts and celebrity benefit scene, and Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Kim Cattrall, and Edward Albee were all on hand to prove the point. The event featured dancers in gold and hooped dervish dresses and had other performance pieces to honor Robert Wilson, the founder of Watermill Center. This floating balloon was projected with a lunar image, concocted by Matt Murphy Event Lighting.

A massive archway of balloons loomed over guests as they entered the party. I'm not typically a fan of balloons unless the planners go all out. These helium-filled beauties get an A.

A series of oversize white balloons hung from the ceiling above two orange bars in the Artifacts Room.

New Museum of Contemporary Art director Lisa Phillips and gala coordinators Cybele Maylone and Livet Richard commissioned artist Jason Hackenwerth to design balloon sculptures for the museum's annual gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. His whimsical, colorful balloon sculptures, modeled after animals and sea creatures, hung from the ceiling.

The American Folk Art Museum's Katie Hush and Matt Beaugrand used balloons to add some dimension and texture to the otherwise stark facade of Metropolitan Pavilion, which hosted the museum's benefit. Rows of large, stationary white balloons, attached to rigid ribbons and weighted down by silver stars, lined the red carpet.

In keeping with the night's prom theme, six large stanchions of white balloons—branded with Target logos and up lit with spotlights—were erected at the entrance to the party venue with dramatic effect. A custom canopy, covered in the "Kate Young Target" logo, was built at the base of the doorway. A total of 1,000 balloons were used outside.

Massive pink and red balloons in star shapes and Target's bull's-eye logo filled one entire room of the venue en route to the main party in the gymnasium. Guests were encouraged to playfully pose with the balloons and have their photo taken. A total of 650 balloons were used inside the party.