More than 800 gathered in Manhattan's Lower East Side for Thrillist's third annual Best Day of Your Life, celebrating the longest day of the year on June 21. The many attractions included Samsung's "Museum of Instagrammable Moments," which allowed guests to have their photos taken with live-artist exhibits, including a moving backdrop of an aerial view of New York City that prompted guests to jump on a trampoline.
Instead of a traditional plated dinner, V.I.P. guests got an entirely different experience: an interactive experience from food artist Jennifer Rubell. Hands appeared through holes in the table, serving guests one morsel at a time.
The 2015 Wall Ball, a fund-raiser supporting the City of Mural Arts Program that was held on May 21 at Philadelphia's Electric Factory, gave guests an opportunity to make their own salad by ordering from a salad mural. Catering by Design created a mural wall of salad greens using an existing railed platform. Men dressed as painters used garden shears to cut down baby heads of lettuce, which were transferred to clear paint cans that guests could take to a salad bar to add toppings.
Offering a pretzel bar with several varieties puts a spin on the classic snack. Paramount Events Chicago has a pretzel station with plain, sea salt, cheese, and pepperoni pretzels that hang from a stand. Accompanying sauces include whole-grain mustard and tomato-bacon jam.
At this year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami, Coca-Cola presented its bottle in a sand sculpture at the Coke Cabana. The display was part of Coke Bottle 100, the brand’s 100th anniversary celebration of its bottle, which debuted in 1915.
In February, while Chicago was in the throes of winter, event space Hub Studio Loft hosted a grand opening party that created a summery environment capable of inspiring guests to venture out in the cold. A section of the event space included a tiki bar offering up "Puka Punch,” which guests sipped amid miniature palm trees, umbrellas, and Astroturf for mind-over-matter warmth. Flowers that evoked a tropical climate sat upon tabletops covered with sand and seashells.
Heal the Bay hosts a fund-raising gala each year, but it had identified a past problem with losing guests’—and donors’—attention in a disconnected environment. So this year, for its 30th anniversary, the environmental nonprofit worked with Events by Fabulous to tweak the layout so it would feel more intimate and inclusive. That meant a new stage design and program meant to draw an emotional response from guests by showing high-res video stories of the honorees and the mission of the charity, rather than by way of a speaker with a microphone. Beyond that, the team also created a multistage arena, with a catwalk that led into the center of the crowd and two additional satellite stages for performances that could better distribute the action within the event space.
For its 2011 gala in New York, the National Center for Learning Disabilities used the vertical pillars in the space to its advantage, rather than viewing them as obstacles. Designer Bronson van Wyck created custom column wraps printed with colorful logos and key messaging about the group's mission. In addition to brightening up the room, the columns also served as places to affix screens that improved guests’ view of the evening’s presentations.
